Sacrifice
by Upper Tyes
Summary: Danny took the blow for Vlad when they were fighting with Pariah Dark. He sacrificed for the man, despite what the older hybrid had done to him in the past. As the piercing smell of blood permeated the air, suffocating them with its metallic scent, Vlad regretted everything he ever did to the young phantom. He wished he hadn't said all those hateful words to the boy.
1. Chapter 1: The Death

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom  
**

******A/N: This story is not a one-shot and it will be updated. Thank you for all your reviews, I appreciate it all! If you like this story and wishes to know what will happen next, please follow this story. Thank you!**

* * *

**SACRIFICE**

**CHAPTER 1: THE DEATH**

Start: 16 August 2012

Done: 13 September 2012

Vlad panted really hard as he propped his tired hands on his knees. Both he and Danny were currently fighting The Ghost King as the result of his rash act. Danny was still fighting with the king inside the Ecto-Skeleton that already took most of his powers. Vlad was just the same with him. He could feel his strength lessening by the seconds. He brought his hands up and started firing at the skeleton armies that were surrounding both hybrids. Impossible. There were too many of them. Every time he managed to defeat some, the armies will attach themselves again and continued fighting as if the hybrid's attacks didn't even scratch at all.

Vlad landed a few kicks and some more ectoblasts while dodging the swords those blasted skeletons were swinging at him. Danny was still preoccupied with the king while Vlad tried his best to rid the skeletons so that Danny can seal Pariah away in his sarcophagus again. He heard a yelp of surprise from the boy to his far left. Danny must have gotten hit by the king yet again.

The man felt a rush of need in his adrenaline to aid the boy, but he knew that if he tried to aid him it would only make matters worse because then, nobody would be taking care of the skeletons. So, he focused back on beating as many skeletons as he could instead, away from Danny and The King. Vlad made many clones of himself; each them occupying themselves in beating the mass of skeletons farther and farther away from the grand fight currently taking place to his far left. Danny had made 4 clones of himself, all of them wearing the Ecto-Skeleton as well.

_Impressive_. _Four clones already?_ Thought Vlad amusedly.

Danny was kicking and punching the king along with one of his clones, while the three other were fighting the skeletons.

After some more kicking, punching, and several ectoblasts, Danny and his clones managed to push the king away into his sarcophagus, but he didn't look very well. In fact, the boy seemed like as if he was about to faint from all the pressures that he had on him at the time. Vlad quickly flew to the boy, forgetting about his own fight with the skeletons. The clones can manage them for now. He brought up the key from his pocket and quickly locked the sarcophagus. Danny let out a shuddering breath as he changed form. The now human Daniel was panting really hard inside the Ecto-Skeleton. Seeing the boy changed form made Vlad revert back to his human half as well, as if remembering his sudden feel of fatigue from fighting earlier. They panted for some while, regaining their breaths. The skeleton armies were starting to disintegrate by now, albeit very slowly because they were in the ghost zone and the environment was helping them to maintain their form for much longer than in the human world.

"Well Daniel, great job at saving the day, _again_." Drawled Vlad while smirking smugly at the boy. He found it very amusing every time the boy reacted to his teasing, and this time was no different. He just couldn't help himself from driving the boy mad despite the aftermath of their dire situation.

Danny only glared weakly at the man from inside his Ecto-Skeleton. The boy said nothing; he just kept on panting and trying to collect his breathing. He then got out from the suit with staggering feet, trying to regain his composure on the tiled floor of the king's castle. Once he managed to stand up straight, he gave the man a very scathing glare, his eyes cold and devoid from any kind of emotions but pure anger and, dare he said, hatred.

"I am so fed up with you Plasmius! How can you be so stupid at letting the king out in the first place? If it weren't for your greed, I didn't have to waste my time and energy to return him back to his sleep!"

Vlad was a little taken aback by the boy's unusual show of anger. Usually he only shoots back some playful jibes or a sarcastic remark, but this time the boy was livid. Still, he replied the boy with a calm response.

"Calm down Daniel, I think you don't need to wear yourself out from all the shouting that I know you want to give me. We did manage to defeat the king after all, so just let it be bygones and leave it at that."

"Bygones? BYGONES? How can you so easily say that Vlad? Why is it always _me_ who end up cleaning your mess?"

* * *

"Watch your tongue boy." Growled Vlad menacingly. He actually knew that he was to blame for the entire fiasco, but it made it hard for himself to hear the boy saying it all to his face. The skeletons around them were still disintegrating, but they would occasionally throw attacks at both hybrids before they would dissipate away. Shrilling sounds could be heard from the skeletons, desperately trying to hold their forms together. They were writhing in agony, some trying to approach the hybrids but failing after several steps.

Danny narrowed his eyes at Vlad's tone and dodged an attack from one of the skeletons that was aimed at him. "What? You don't like the truth? Then let me say this so it could go through your thick head! IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT! Nothing good ever comes to me from helping you old man, why the heck are you so hell bent on making my life miserable?"

Vlad's eyes flashed a dangerous blood red at the boy's shouting. He doesn't have time for this, he was weak from all the fighting before and all he wanted to do was to go home and have some rest. But the boy just had to rile him up. "Don't be so ungrateful you little rat! If it wasn't for me locking the king away for you, you would be dead by now!"

Danny dodged another ectoblast and two swords. He turned his face around to face Vlad again and yelled at the man, his voice hoarse from all the shouting before, "IF YOU HADN'T RELEASED THE KING THEN ALL OF THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED!"

Vlad let out a frustrated sound from the back of his throat. He dodged an ectoblast by ducking and stood up straight to face the boy again, "Why Daniel, you always wondered why I like to make your life miserable; perhaps you should consider this first before shouting all hell at me. Why on earth's name do you always foil my plans!"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because your plans just so happen to have my dad dead on the list, you marrying mom, world domination, and making me your perfect half ghost son!" Replied Danny sarcastically while glaring weakly at Vlad. He was already tired as well. He couldn't even transform to his ghost half because his energy was drained. If he could, he would have transformed by now and make Vlad see things his way by knocking it on his overly stubborn head, literally.

Unknown to the little hybrid, Vlad was currently having the same train of thought as the boy. He would have shot ectoblasts to shut that whiny little mouth up, but he didn't want to waste anymore energy. Instead, he only strode over to him and towered over the younger halfa menacingly. He then hissed vehemently at Danny,

"Get this through your dimwitted brain Daniel, I've seen your grades at school and it is certainly not outstanding but surely even you know that I became like this because of your oaf of a father!"

Danny looked slightly hurt at the jab about his intelligence, but he quickly changed the look into pure anger, "Well, sorry for staying up late fighting all your minions away, if it weren't for you sending them to my hometown, I would have time to study! And don't call my dad an idiot!" He pointed his forefinger at the older man, "You have to stop blaming people for everything that happened to you! If only you move on, you could have been happy by now! Not pining after mom or scheming another evil plan to ruin my day, maybe you should really get a cat to keep yourself from being lonely!"

Several blasts and swords were thrown at them again. Both quickly ducked away from the blasts and put up a weak shield to avoid getting hit by the swords. They were both panting really hard; their shields too weak to completely cover them from getting hit by the sharp weapons. Several swords penetrated the shields halfway, but luckily, none have the chance to even graze the hybrids. Vlad was still towering over the boy. He raised his shield higher above his and the boy's head when another blast was directed at them. After the attacks were gone, Danny quickly shoved the man away and shouted frustratingly at the older hybrid,

"AGH! This isn't fair! What did I do to deserve this crap?"

"Life is never fair, _Daniel_. You should have learned that by now but I am not at all surprised that you haven't! After all, what kinds of thing that your father could have teach you? I am now perfectly sure that you take after his simple brain with your entire nauseating hero notion to protect the ungrateful citizens of your town!

"Sometimes I wonder why you did this all, Daniel. Perhaps you want to be the hero because of all the disappointments directed at you; you want to drown it all away by being the so called hero. You're a sorry excuse of a living for doing this to yourself!" The man folded both his arms on top of his chest, disgust coloring his voice. He doesn't care anymore whether or not his words had hurt Danny; the phantom's own words had hurt him a little. If he was hurt by it then good, he wanted it to hurt, to show the boy that he can also retaliates Danny's jabs and angry words with as much fervor.

Danny's face fell at hearing Vlad's blunt words. That one actually stung his heart. But he quickly shouted back to mask his hurt with layers of resentment.

"I know that life isn't fair Plasmius! If life was fair, I wouldn't have to fight the ghost king! If life was fair, I would be at school right now with no ghost powers, living a normal teenage life! If life was fair, I would have time to sleep and study so that mom, dad, and Mr. Lancer wouldn't be disappointed at me all the time! Heck, if life was fair, you wouldn't be here right now and make my life a living hell!"

Vlad's eyes were now completely red, although he was still in his human form. He raised one of his hands-

and struck the boy hard across his left cheek.

To say that Danny was surprised was an understatement. He was thrown back several steps, his left cheek burning from the hit. He cupped his reddened side with his hands and looked shockingly at Vlad, blue eyes widening uneasily.

"If life was fair Daniel, you wouldn't be born." Hissed Vlad coldly, eyes flashing red and narrowed at the young phantom.

Danny could feel tears of frustration, pain, and hurt collecting in his eyes. Didn't want to look weak, he quickly suppressed them back. With a shuddering breath he lowered his eyes, his hands that were clutching his cheek trembling slightly. If all the words from before had only stung him, that one last sentence from Vlad had struck him, as hard as when Vlad had backhanded him.

_This isn't fair..._

Why was it always him? Why was it always he who must suffer through all the disappointments, anger, and most of all, hate? Everybody hates him. Damn it, even his parents hate him in his ghost form and were always disappointed at him in his human half because of all the bad grades he keeps on getting from staying up late and not studying. Sam would say something snarky about him being late to accompany them and Tucker would just shook his head in again, disappointment, whenever he was late for their movie nights or hang outs because of fighting the ghosts.

He was bullied at school, shunned from his peers, hated by his teachers, invisible to most eyes.

It was all part of his payment from saving the town regularly.

Maybe Vlad was right. Maybe he _was_ a big disappointment to everyone. The world seems to hate him so much.

He was nothing.

He meant nothing to most people in his life.

He was just an annoying pebble in everybody's shoes.

Danny's breath hitched from all these thoughts. He kept on cradling his left cheek because it was still pulsing painfully; head also still lowered and weary eyes staring at his worn out shoes. He narrowed them until they were only slits of blue.

His mind was shrouded with anger and hatefulness for himself. He too, felt disappointed at himself that he couldn't do anything right for just once in his life. Everything he did was always wrong.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

And everyone doesn't seem to care that he sacrificed everything for them. Not that anyone knows anyway. That he had given up his own dream to go and see the vast beauty of space so that he could protect them. Not with all the grades. He was just a _failure. _

Vlad was right.

For once, he had to admit that the older halfa was correct.

The older man couldn't see the boy's expression because his head was still lowered to the ground; half of his face covered with shaking hands. Vlad felt a little uneasy at the boy's silent form. Danny didn't even say anything awful to him after what he did nor did he try to hit the man back.

To be honest, Danny didn't have the energy to be angry anymore. Besides, what the man had said to him was true so he couldn't say anything much about it either. The shrilling screams from the skeletons were the only thing that could be heard to both hybrids, aside from their breathing. He snapped his head up, ready to scream insults back at the man, if only to cover his hurting pride.

Just when he was about to open his mouth, he saw something gleaming green flying towards Vlad.

And the man wasn't looking; his eyes were solely focused on the boy.

It was one of the skeletons' swords. Vlad didn't hear nor see the sword coming at him. But Danny did. He quickly ran over to the older hybrid while shouting rather panicky to warn the man,

"Vlad!"

* * *

"Vlad!"

Vlad was startled when Danny shouted at him. He saw the boy running rather frantically to him. Still angry, Vlad intended to push him away. But, before he could do anything to keep the brat far from him, the young phantom had successfully pushed him sideways. The man was caught unprepared and he yelped in complete surprise. He stumbled, feet swaying and because he was still weak, the man fell to the cold floor of Pariah Dark's castle. His side collided painfully with the hard tile.

_How dare him!_ The boy had just pushed him without an ounce of concern, care, or anything for that matter! He had had enough of Danny's snappy, cocky attitude.

Vlad pushed his body up using his elbows, glaring at the fallen form of the boy. He must have stumbled after pushing Vlad. How clumsy of him. Then again, the boy was always so careless and rash, not to mention, extremely clumsy. He quickly stood up and strode over to the young boy. Danny was laying sideways, his back facing Vlad. He was curling himself up into a ball.

"Why you little rat!"

Vlad grabbed the boy's shoulder a bit too harshly and forced the little hybrid to turn around and face him.

What Vlad saw made his words died in his throat, eyes widening at the sight before him, mouth gaping.

Danny was clutching his chest, eyes squinted shut in pain. Occasional whimpers forcing their way out from the boy's gritted teeth.

A glowing sword was embedded deeply into his chest, near his heart.

Everything came crashing down on Vlad. The boy didn't push him because he wanted to spite the man. He was trying to save him. His attempt was successful; Vlad didn't get hurt by the sword.

But the boy did.

Sickening silence fell around them; the skeletons were finally gone after one last ear-splitting scream, as if knowing they had succeeded in hurting one of the hybrids.

"Daniel? Daniel! Daniel, can you hear me?"

_Dan... iel… hear… me… me…_

Vlad's voice echoed in the vast, empty room. He frantically shook the boy's shoulders, shouting rather desperately at him. Danny's breathing was ragged, wheezing painfully. He wearily opened his eyes, both looking glassy and slightly dazed. His blood- a swirl of red and hints of green- dripped out from the hole the sword had made in his chest, soaking into the boy's pristine white shirt, imitating the colors of the joy in Christmas, mocking the man like a twisted holiday decoration. He looked over to Vlad, eyes lidded and seemed to be staring ahead- not really looking at the man at all. He choked on his breath, coughing and hacking, trying to fill his lungs with oxygen greedily. The boy's cough drew up blood to his pale face, his hands too shaky to wipe them off. The imprint of Vlad's hand from the hit earlier could be seen clearly on his left cheek, making the man felt guilt-stricken at the sight of it. Here the boy that had saved him and how did he repay him? By calling Danny a meaningless rat and gave a cold mark on his face.

The piercing smell of blood permeated the air, suffocating them with its metallic scent. The smell of Danny's blood.

"Vlad..." His voice was raspy, gasping for air. He kept his stare straight at Vlad as hot barrages of tears fell from his numb stare. His eyes looked hurt, not just because of the pain that was caused by the sword, but Vlad knew; was caused by his own words as well. The man felt the guilt in his chest throbbed again. Tugging, ripping, and shredding at his heart.

For the very first time in his whole life, Vlad truly understand the meaning of utter _fear_.

"Daniel, stay- _oh god_- stay awake! Keep still, I'm going to remove it."

He reached out to grab the sword; intent on to turn the offending object intangible and removing it from the shaking boy.

But Danny stopped him.

He grabbed Vlad's hand that was reaching out for the sword, curling his small fingers around the man's forearm.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm s-so sorry." Daniel was now crying openly, his body wracking with sobs after sobs from the pain in his chest, the sight of it made tears prickling at the edge of the man's eyes as well.

"I'm sorry for e-everything… I'm sorry... sorry…"

"No Daniel it's alright, there's nothing for you to be-"

"Vlad," Danny cut Vlad's words with his raspy voice, so small that it heard more like a whisper, "I don't hate you… I never... ha-hate you…"

* * *

A pregnant pause. Everything seemed to still after those words were heard.

Vlad could only stare unbelievingly after hearing the unexpected sentence making their way out of his adversary's lips, a hand still supporting the boy's shoulders. Danny kept his stare all the while at the man, eyes still leaking with tears and breath hitching every now and then, waiting for the man's response as he tightened his fingers around Vlad's forearm. Danny felt a bit stupid after saying that to Vlad. Of course the man wouldn't say anything back to him. Even in his weaken state the man still hates him. Danny felt very sadden by this. His breath hitched again as he waited for Vlad to say anything, _anything_ at all to him. But he just kept staring, body rigid and eyes flashing with unreadable emotions, his face a complete blank-devoid from anything.

Danny was a little disappointed that Vlad held onto the silence, silence that seemed to suffocate them both with its ominous quietness. He so badly wanted the man to say something back, to say that he didn't hate Danny too.

Perhaps he had hoped for too much.

Maybe Vlad really hate him that much. After all, what reason does the man have not to hate him? He was only a nuisance in the older hybrid's life. Nothing more. After more silence Danny just couldn't keep up with it anymore. He sadly adverted his eyes to stare at anything but the man in front of him, breath slowing, feeling very stupid and ashamed.

Why?

Why does Vlad have to hate him that much?

Even until _now_?

The pain flared angrily in his chest. He whimpered painfully, eyes squeezing shut, back slightly arching from the unbearable feeling. A cry tore from his lips, this time the pain was much more intense; his body was shaking violently from all the sobs, though he kept his voice down; afraid that he would disgust the older hybrid.

God, he feels like such a baby.

At least the man could have his wish now; Danny would no longer be in his life. He could feel his body giving up from the searing pain and his heart beating even slower.

Still sobbing, Danny quietly whispered to the man again, sniffling as he slowly uncurled his fingers from Vlad's forearm- after all, he was sure that the man didn't want to be touched by him if he could help it, so Danny was doing him a favor by releasing his hold.

"I just wish… wish that you don't hate me too."

The pain had reached its point by now. Danny couldn't keep his eyes open anymore; he felt his mind and body giving up to the pain. Exhausted, his tired body became lax, slumping in Vlad's hold; eyes rolling closed as sweet darkness coil him in its dark confines. The pain was forgotten entirely; all Danny could feel was only the comforting numbness.

And he but all welcomed it like birds chirping for spring.

"Daniel!"

Danny didn't even stir. Vlad hastily grabbed the sword and turned it intangible. The sound of metal dropping to the floor could be heard as the loud clank reverberated on the huge walls of the castle. He quickly bandaged the boy's chest with ectoplasm, to stop the blood from flowing. Danny's breathing was slower than before and became even less apparent now.

With his eyes still closed, his breathing suddenly gave a last shuddering outtake and his body stilled.

Danny was now completely limp in the man's hold, unresponsive and…

_N__ot breathing_.

Vlad had just gotten one of his many demented wishes granted.

The phrase saying about being careful for what you wish for was true.

He panicked even more, shaking the boy's shoulders desperately. Danny's head lolled back and forth from all the shaking, but he still didn't open his eyes.

"Oh god, oh god, I'm… I'm sorry! I'm sorry as well!"

There were so many things that the man regretted by now. He wished he had said it all to Danny when the boy was still conscious.

Now the small hybrid may never know that he was sorry too.

Or that the man didn't hate him.

He just realized this when the fear in his heart emphasize everything he felt for the boy- the young hybrid was important to him. He had unknowingly loved the boy more than life itself.

"I don't hate you Daniel! I don't! I never did Daniel- oh_ Jesus-_ DANIEL! STAY AWAKE!"

Vlad's voice became hoarse with each passing seconds as he waited for Danny to give any reaction. He touched the boy's wrist nervously, checking for a pulse indicating that Danny was still alive, just wasn't breathing at the moment.

But he could feel nothing.

With a dawning realization that the boy was truly dead, Vlad tightened his grip on the boy's shoulder as he looked down to Danny's pale, tear-stained, lifeless face. His heart broke then and there as he stared at the young hybrid's ashen feature. Even in his death the boy's face stayed looking very innocent and angelic. What would he give to have the boy there again with him, happy, healthy, smiling and _alive_. Nothing in this world could ever replace the boy. _How could he be so blind?_ How could he ever think Danny as a nuisance in his life?

He cradled the small form of the boy close to his body, one of his hands supporting the little badger's head while the other placed on the small of his back. He hugged Danny close to him as sobs escaped his own lips. He kept sobbing as he rocked the boy's body back and forth along with him, his head buried in Danny's bony shoulder.

The man truly regretted everything that he ever did to the small hybrid. Even with all the cruel things he all but threw at him, Danny still didn't hate the man, heart still as pure as gold, as forgiving as ever while Vlad was the complete opposite, treating him like an easily discarded pawn.

Now he died with thinking that the Vlad hated him, that he meant nothing in the man's life. Vlad shamefully had to admit that that was his thought when the boy was still there. Now that Danny was gone, he finally realized that he needed the boy.

You never know what something truly meant to you before you lose it.

All these times he had so unfeelingly hated the boy. He had wanted him to have never been born, had sneered at Danny's idea of peace and justice, and even had the gall to announce it to the boy as naïve and nauseating, completely ridiculous, thus hurting his feelings. Now he finally realized that Danny was the best gift this cruel world has ever given to him. He wasn't even sure that he would be happy now with Danny gone from his life, even if now he finally had the chance to have Maddie without the young hybrid there to prevent it from happening.

"Daniel, I'm sorry… I'm sorry… just please stay little badger..."

The words sounded hollow to his ears. He knew, even with all the pleading, those crystal blue eyes would never look at him anymore. But he couldn't stop the pleading; he wanted to cling onto something, to at least have a sliver of hope that Danny would open his eyes once again.

And be there with him.

But it was too late.

* * *

**A/N: ****Stay tuned, I am currently working on chapter two. Update might be sporadic, but this story will not be abandoned. Be patient, it takes a lot of time to figure out the plot.**


	2. Chapter 2: Findings

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom  
**

**A/N: Thank you so much for all your reviews! I love them all, they were nice and very supportive! Some even said that they cried after reading the first chapter and this pleases me! When I think about the story I cried too. It's just so sad that Vlad only realized everything after Danny died... Anyway, see you on the next chapter!  
**

**Well, onto the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it!  
**

* * *

**SACRIFICE**

**CHAPTER 2: FINDINGS  
**

Start: 14 September 2012

Done: 20 September 2012

The man had brought the boy's body back to Amity when everybody was still rejoicing after Danny Phantom's victory over the Ghost King. They instantly knew that their hero had succeeded in ridding of the king when all the skeletons were gone.

The boy's mother had been reduced to tearful sobs when she saw the dead body of her baby boy. Jack Fenton could only stare at Danny's stark white alabaster face and didn't utter any words. From that on, Jack Fenton was a different man. He would never be the same anymore. The boy's sister also cried in despair upon seeing Danny's dead form. She knew of Danny's secret although Danny didn't know that she knew. She had cried and cried until her eyes were nothing but red from all the tears. She couldn't believe that her brother was gone. Vlad had also told them a different version of Danny saving him, leaving the part of both their ghost halves out of the line. Maddie had screamed at him and even blamed Vlad for the death of her boy. Jack didn't say anything; he only nodded stiffly while holding his frantic wife close to him, letting her sob in his chest.

The situation was awkward for Vlad. He didn't know what to do upon seeing their mourning. He had kept quiet after telling his story and only listened to the occasional sobs from both women in the house. He too, could only stare at the boy's cold body, not believing any of these things that were unfolding in front of his eyes. He still couldn't quite grasp the fact that the boy was truly gone forever from this world.

Not wanting to disturb the family's mourning, he excused himself. Vlad didn't say anything when he departed from the house. He only stood from his sitting position and walked out the door, mind still in trance and ears ringing from hearing Maddie and Jazz's crying.

He then went back to his huge mansion in Wisconsin to mourn alone.

* * *

That very night Vlad decided to take a look at how the boy's family was coping, and if he was to be honest with himself, he wanted to get to know the boy more by searching through the young hybrid's room. He wanted to understand the small hybrid and find out what Danny had thought of him when the boy was still alive. He was curious and desperate.

* * *

It felt wrong though, being in the boy's room in the middle of the night while everyone else in the house was fast asleep. He could hear Jack's loud snore from where he was standing in Danny's room. Jack and Maddie had put Danny's body in the hospital to be buried on Saturday. Today was Thursday. He felt as if he was intruding into some sacred place, namely, the late room of the dead boy. But he so badly wanted to find out about something- _anything_- related to the boy, and where else would be the perfect place to find it out better than in his room?

Curiosity got the best of him, and he soon found himself rummaging through the boy's things.

Shifting to his human form in case he may set up any alarm, he looked into Danny's desk drawers, closet, floor, and searched through the boy's school bag carefully. When he opened the boy's closet, the first thing he noticed was the medical kit that Danny must have put there where he can easily reach it. Right on the middle shelf. Somehow, the man felt complied to look into the medical kit that the young hybrid must have used many, unaccountable times. Danny must have been forced to tend for himself whenever he got any injuries from his ghost fights. Vlad felt very guilty by this thought. The boy never seemed to complain that he had to do everything by himself. He didn't even seem to tell anybody about his injuries either. Not even his friends, not if they didn't ask. He knew this of course, Danny was not the type to whine to have people's attention.

He opened the lid of the white box and was surprised to see that there were darts and bullets among the kit, with specks of ectoplasm and red human blood staining them. He immediately recognized it as Skulker's, having given it to the ghost himself as the ghost's payment for doing his biddings. He indirectly had harmed the boy- not that he hadn't done it himself before in harming Danny- but somehow with him gone now, Vlad could feel the guilt gnawing at his heart. He deduced that Danny had put the bullets there to hide it from his friends and family.

_Perhaps he was in a hurry and shoved all these while still tending to his injuries._ Mused the man forlornly.

He fingered the bullets for a while, the dried blood staining his fingers. Sighing, he closed the lid and put the box back to its rightful shelf. He closed his eyes for a moment and put his head in his hands. Feeling exhausted for remembering the young hybrid for too much, Vlad sat on Danny's chair and put his elbows on the boy's desk, head still in hand.

God, he missed Danny.

Exhaling a loud breath, he continued his search in the room. Still sitting, he opened the desk's top drawer and the man noticed a small book hidden in a strewn of papers. It was colored in deep red and hard covered. It looked suspiciously like a journal, or a diary. He flipped open the first page of the book and saw- in a chicken scratch writing- Danny's full name, written by the boy himself. From the messy handwriting and the yellow pages of the book, Vlad presumed that this was written when the Danny was still around 4 or 6 years old. The handwriting looked way too childish to be a teenager's. His guess was proven right when he continued reading the bio written on the book. It said the book was bought in 1994. Danny was still four years old at that time.

He flipped to the next page. There, in the boy's messy but readable writings, the first day of Danny's school life. Vlad found it odd; Danny didn't seem like the type to write diaries. Then again, there were so many things he didn't really know about the boy.

**_Today I went to school. Mommy said that I hafta stay there and she will pick me up later. I don't like school. Everyone was looking at me weird and I can hear them talking bout me. I sat alone today because Tucker was sick in his first day. There's this kid named Dash, he was mean to me. At break he came to my desk and called me a freak. He said I can never have any friends because I'm weird and because my whole family is weird too. I was angry and I said to him to leave me alone. He didn't like it. He shoved me and told me to stay away from him. My head banged with my desk after he shoved me. It hurt a lot. I think he is the one who needs to stay away from me. I never do anything to him. Jazz helped me with the spelling when I'm writing this. She said it's good to keep diaries so she gave me one of her book. I think writing in diary is a girl's thing. But she said I have to at least write something about my day even if it's short. Whatever Jazz._**

Vlad could feel his eyes flashing red, his hand that was holding the book tightening slightly. How dare that Dash kid called Danny a freak! But he couldn't really be blamed- after all, Jack and Maddie's profession as ghost hunters were very unusual at that time. He felt awful after reading this; Danny had been called many cruel things since he was a kid. What did the boy feel when he called Danny a disappointment?

He was no better than that Dash kid.

The man was actually surprised when he saw the boy's already well-organized writing. At such young age, the boy could already construct coherent words and in order sentences.

He glanced at the digital clock placed on Danny's bedside table which read 12:13. He still needed to search around in the boy's room; he needed more than just Danny's diary. The man tucked the book neatly inside his suit jacket and got up from the seat, closing the drawer quietly. He felt as if there was something that was supposed to be found here, in the boy's room. He could feel it.

Glancing at the clock again, Vlad knew he had to move fast. He didn't have much time. He still wanted to read the boy's diary but he had to go back before three because from here to Wisconsin takes a two hours flight and he couldn't teleport because it was too far. Besides, he preferred reading the boy's book at his own house and he also needed his sleep to plan the little hybrid's funeral tomorrow with the boy's family.

His breathing hitched at the thought of Danny's funeral. He could feel the lump in his throat suffocating him. He crossed his arms and lowered his head, evening his breathing. Taking deep, calming breaths, the man surveyed the room, thinking where he should search next. He strode over to Danny's bed and inspected the mattress. Curious, he slipped his hand under the mattress and felt something hard and hard edged planted inside it. He could feel the square shape of a box inside the mattress. Danny must have phased it there so nobody could ever find it.

He phased the box out and opened it. Vlad found a picture album with the boy's Danny Phantom logo on the black cover. There were also the boy's report cards from when he was still in kindergarten through high school. He sat on the bed and started to softly skim through the report cards, remembering his cruel last words to the small hybrid about Danny's intelligence.

He felt awful for saying that to Danny.

Feeling the need to know, he grabbed the boy's report card when Danny was still in elementary school.

He opened the first page of the small book. Danny's picture when he was still 6 gazed back at Vlad, looking very serious and tight faced. The boy seemed very uncomfortable in this picture, but still looked so very childish and funny in all his seriousness. Vlad unconsciously smiled at seeing this picture of Danny. He fingered it, but then the man stopped suddenly. He could feel the lump coming back. He swallowed it and silently started flipping through Danny's records. Vlad was amazed; Danny was one of the best in his class. But the man wondered why wasn't Danny on top of the class. He had seen the boy's handwriting and from the way he formed his words, the boy was a genius at his age.

Perhaps the boy was just lazy, or he really didn't like school. Whatever it was, it prevented Danny from being the best in his class. According to the first page of the diary, the reason was most likely to be the latter. He knew that Danny was bullied at school, but he never really cared about it before. Now he wanted to strangle every each of them who had harmed his little badger.

He checked through the reports again, this time he was flipping through the boy's report card when he was in junior high. Again, Danny's grades were all A's and B's.

When the man started inspecting the boy's report card in high school, he noticed that at this point the young hybrid's grades were plummeting down, the exact opposite to when Danny was still in elementary and junior high.

It must have been due to the boy's newly gained ghost power. With all the stress and ghost fighting, Danny couldn't keep his grades up anymore. Vlad put the side of his head on his knuckles, and slowly started taking notes of Danny's grades. The boy got a C in English, D in history, D in math, B in physics, and B in chemistry. He felt guilty yet again. He could have helped the boy with his studies but he instead had made the boy's life much more miserable.

The man closed the report cards and put them back inside the gray box. Gazing at the black picture album, he decided to take some look in it. He carefully picked it up and opened the first page of the album. The first picture he saw was of Danny holding a white hazmat suit and standing in front of the ghost portal. The boy's face looked bored and uninterested. The second picture was of Danny wearing the white hazmat suit while staring at the camera with a frown on his face. His dark-skinned friend was standing next to him, smiling widely while the boy only scowled. His friends must have taken these pictures and Danny was reluctant.

The next picture made Vlad suddenly realized that these were taken seconds before Danny would get blasted inside the portal. Danny was going into the portal, his mop of messy black hair sticking out to the front of his face while he glanced to the camera, body halfway inside the contraption and a hand on the wall of it.

Vlad leaned forward in his sitting position on the edge of the bed; hands latched tightly onto the album and eyes staring intently at the pictures in it. This time, it was of the boy in ghost form, face looked worn out and tired while both hands were clutching his head. Then it was a picture of the boy still in ghost form, laying on the floor- unconscious- the portal swirling green behind him. It was like watching a stop-motion movie.

He opened the next page of the album with care, not wanting to wrinkle any pictures. This time they were pictures of the fights the boy has gotten into. There were also pictures of him smiling with his friends while in the cinema, the mall, outside school, and laughing happily in his ghost form- his ghostly tail swirling around him and hugging both his friends close to him. The man smiled sadly at seeing the laughing picture of Danny. The last time he saw him, the boy's face was tear-stained and blood had marred the edge of his lips. Vlad had never seen the boy cry before, not even once. Danny was strong, and it saddens the man to know that the boy probably cried not because of the pain inflicted by the sword, but by his words. He just knew. The boy had never even cried before when any weapons managed to pierce him.

He also remembered Danny's reaction when he had slapped him. The small hybrid didn't say anything, didn't even try to hit him back. Did Danny actually think that low about himself?

Vlad exhaled very softly and continued looking at the album. More pictures of Danny; scowling, smiling, frowning, laughing, goofing, looking bored, Danny, Danny, Danny…

He stopped at the end of the page. There was a picture of when the Fentons came to his reunion party. There was him in the picture. He didn't think Danny would ever want to put any picture of him in his album. But there it was. Perhaps the boy really had never hated him.

It was only him who had hated the boy...

He closed the album and was about to put it back to where it belong when he noticed something white and small sitting at the bottom of the box. Frowning at the small thing, the man picked it up and examined the object. It was a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and was a bit surprised to read the title written on the paper. Written in a much better but still messy handwriting, was a very shocking title.

Things I want to do before I die.

The man quickly scanned the list down. Why would Daniel ever write anything like this?

_4 July 1996_

_Things I want to do before I die:_

_1. Eat a worm ** X**_

_2. Walking up the down escalator__ **X**_

_3. Walking down the up escalator_ **_X_  
**

_4. Put bugs inside Dash's lunchbox** X**_

_5. Beat Tucker in Tetris **X**_

_6. Get a puppy_

_7. Go to Moon_

_8. Fly without using airplanes **X**_

_9. Watch the launch of a space shuttle (live) **X**  
_

_10. Go diving at a lake **X**  
_

_11. Learn how to ride a horse_

_12. Eat a gallon of ice cream in 15 minutes **X**  
_

_13. Go to space_

_14. Stargazing alone in the forest **X**  
_

_15. Manage to at least make 4 clones **X**  
_

_16. Make peace with all the ghosts_

_17. Finish The Great Gatsby (eat that Mr. Lancer!)** X**_

_18. Make peace with Vlad_

_19. Tell about me being Phantom_

Danny was six when he started writing the list and kept adding it up until recently before he died. He suspected this from the transformation of the messy handwriting into a more mature one. He reread the list again, and stopped at the two last numbers on the boy's list. Danny had been planning to make amends with him.

He frowned sadly at seeing the boy's incomplete wishes. Now he would never be able to complete it. He didn't know the boy had ever wanted to learn how to ride a horse. He didn't know Danny ever wanted to get a puppy, or to go to space and land on the moon. Danny's wishes were simple and childish, they were cute. Kinds of wishes any kids would have. He could have granted some of the boy's wishes-

but all he ever gave the boy were wounds and bruises.

He stood from the bed. The man walked over to the boy's desk and grabbed a pen he found laying on it. Vlad set the paper on the desk and relaxed himself on the chair, gazing sadly at the paper again. At least one of the boy's wishes had been granted.

With the pen, the man carefully crossed the line on number 18. He leaned back, feeling awful. Although he had crossed it, the boy still died thinking that he had never managed to make peace with the man. Vlad sighed and took the paper, folded it carefully and put it inside his pocket.

He just wished that Danny was watching him.

His search was done.


	3. Chapter 3: Last Thoughts

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom  
**

**A/N: I don't know how I should voice this... You are all have been so kind at giving me all those lovely reviews! It made me feel that continuing this fic is quite worth the while! First, I wanted to say thank you to _Arteesta_. Oh my god. YOU gave the best review EVER and it made me feel very and utterly happy! I must say that your review managed to boost my ego and productivity in creating more chapters! This also applies to every other who've read my chapters, but forgive me, I am far too lazy to write all the names here... I am very truly sorry, I hope this doesn't make you hate me... No hard feelings kay? By the way, just letting you know, I was listening to **With You** by **Flight Facilities** while I'm writing this Author Note. Not a very important information, but I just feel like it to let you know. Please forgive me again for my blabbering. But seriously, check it out. I recommend you.  
**

**Because of your awesome review, this chapter is dedicated for: _Arteesta_  
**

**I hope you love it _Arteesta_!  
**

**Any kind of reviews are welcomed. Please give me critiques so I will be able to evaluate my chapters and make it more efficient and less excessive, I have a habit to make excessive lines. Just tell me about what you think, I will not mind at all.  
**

**Anyway, if you haven't noticed, I changed the rating of this fic into T and switched the genre from Tragedy to Angst. I think this fic is quite the angst, don't you think? A review made me thought about this and I can't help but find it true indeed. It seems more rather like an angsty fic than tragedy.  
**

**Thank you for all your supports! Follows and Faves are very appreciated as much as reviews!  
**

* * *

**SACRIFICE**

**CHAPTER 3: LAST THOUGHTS**

Start: 22 September 2012

Done: 11 October 2012

Vlad woke up feeling miserable the next day.

Friday. Today he had to make plans for Danny's funeral. The man sat up on his bed, hands massaging his slightly disoriented head. His silver hair was freed from its usual ponytail, pooling around his neck. He brushed them back and sighed, not feeling like he wanted to do anything for the day. He wanted to crawl back to sleep, to forget about everything. His guilt, sadness… Danny… everything. He glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table- 5:38 AM. It was still too early, yet he couldn't go back to sleep. His thoughts kept drifting back to the dead boy. Sighing, the man got up and started towards the bathroom and decided to make an early start.

Walking to the door he remembered something. His eyes searched around the room and the man was relieved to see Danny's old diary resting on the top of his desk. He stared at it for a moment, thinking. In it, he could find out all about Danny. He could learn more about the boy. The thought made him smile, but as fast as it had came, the quirk of the lips quickly disappeared into a sad frown. Learning about him wouldn't change the fact that he's gone forever.

Why care about him now when he was already _dead_?

Vlad absentmindedly started tugging at his hair and swirled the silver tresses with his fingers, eyes still fixated on the book.

He glanced away forlornly and turned the doorknob open.

* * *

After taking a long soothing shower, Vlad stepped out of the bathroom; dressed in only white shirt and black slacks. He was still bare footed, his feet touching the carpeted floor and damp hair falling freely around his face. He ran his fingers through them and steam wafted off of the silver strands, drying them instantly using his ghost powers. Still drying his hair with his fingers, the man walked over to the desk with almost uncertainty. It was still 6:57 in the morning.

He still had a long time before heading to Fenton Works to plan Danny's funeral- and said boy's book was lying innocently on his desk.

He kept brushing his fingers through his hair while looking thoughtfully at the object of his attention. The book was thick; the man wondered if Danny had ever finished writing in it.

**_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._**

Jumping a little at hearing the startling sound of the alarm clock, he instantly snapped out of his reverie. His hair was already dry by now. He swiveled his head to the other side of the room, narrowing his eyes a bit disdainfully at the clock. Sighing inwardly, he gazed back at the book again. Reading it can wait, what can't wait now is getting prepared for what's to come at Fenton Works. They also needed to retrieve Danny's corpse and dress it for the funeral. Thinking about the boy now as a rotting corpse sickens him. He could never picture Danny as a dead being.

He always thought that Danny looks just like he was only sleeping.

If only that was true.

* * *

"Oh… hello Vladdie-

We've been waitin' for ya…

….just come inside."

Jack Fenton opened the door more widely so the silver-haired man could step in. He looked different. Something about Jack seemed off. There was no joy radiating off of him, his whole being screamed of despair and depression. His usually happy and bubbly demeanor had been reduced to a stoic posture of blankness.

Jack Fenton looked almost unrecognizable.

Vlad nodded stiffly. He still didn't like Jack, but after Danny's death, his anger towards the oaf seemed to diminish. He doesn't have the energy for petty revenges anymore.

Maddie didn't join them as they made plans for Danny's burial. She locked herself in her room, and sometimes the man could hear her sobbing from the second floor with his enhanced hearing. He felt like crying as well.

The now only child- Jazz Fenton- was at school at the moment. She decided to wallow in school works and bring the bad news of Danny's death to school herself.

Everything looked normal. The birds were still chirping outside and the sound of cars zooming on the streets and their loud honks could be heard as both men planned about the young hybrid's funeral.

The cheerful air around them seemed as if to be mocking their despair.

* * *

"I believe that is all Jack. Do not worry over the expense, I will cover it all. It's the least I could do."

Jack nodded again, his hands holding Danny's birth certificate. A picture of Danny from some early months ago was lying on the square table of the living room, smiling slightly at the camera- almost uncomfortably. A wisp of blue smoke was coming out from his slightly parted smiling lips, if observed very closely. His eyes weren't entirely focused on the camera, the orbs looked wary and fearful and seemed to be staring ahead of the lens. He must have sensed a ghost when this picture was taken.

But aside from all that, Danny looked very nice with his soft, boyish features.

Vlad sighed as he leaned back on his seat across from Jack's sofa. He rubbed his temple and rested one of his hands on the back of the chair, gazing at the photo.

Just thinking about the funeral due two days from now made him shiver. He could never, ever in his whole life imagined the boy being actually dead. How he managed to hate Danny until recently baffled him. He had never even treated Danny as anyone of importance too…

He took his cup of tea and sipped at it when he heard the front door opened. There stood Jasmine, looking a bit disheveled, shoulders sagging.

"I'm home." She called uselessly while putting her bag on the floor. It was then when she noticed that Vlad was sitting in the living room with her father, she straightened up a bit.

"Oh… hello Mr. Masters. If you don't mind, I'm heading to my room now."

"That's alright dear; just you go and have some rest. We are planning for the funeral."

Jazz gazed sadly at her father at the mention of the funeral. The man looked like a worn out teddy bear. Broken. She looked back at Vlad and nodded grimly as she descended up the stairs.

Vlad glanced at his watch and noted the time showed there. It was already half past three.

"Jack, if you don't mind, I would be heading back to Wisconsin now. My flight is due at 4 and I still have some matters to attend to."

Jack looked up and mumbled a yes, gazing back at the birth certificate for the last time and placed it on the table, along with the photo.

Vlad's eyes followed the certificate. Danny was born on the 3rd of April. It is said that those who were born in the month of April are fearless pioneers and strong, not afraid of sacrificing themselves for those who they love.

How very accurate it was.

"Well then, I will be going now Jack. Just call me if you need anything at all, concerning everything."

Jack nodded again but didn't say a word in reply.

The hybrid sighed and stood, putting on his coat. He walked over to the door when-

"He was such a great kid. He still is. I'm glad that he at least died for trying to save you Vladdie. He must love you really much."

Vlad stop dead on his way. He didn't glance back when he reply, staring sagely at the floor instead.

"Yes… he must have."

That said, the man twisted the knob and walked out into the sunny weather.

* * *

He actually didn't have any flight at 4. He lied about it as an excuse so he could avoid the Fentons.

Vlad didn't know what he should do. He didn't want to go back yet. With no destination in mind, the man started walking down the streets, putting up the collar of his black coat and tilting his head down. No need for any nosy reporters right now. The news about Danny's death hadn't come out yet, but he was sure that it will soon, with a cause of death like that. Saving a billionaire.

What a way to die.

As he walked, the man reminisced the days he spent torturing the young hybrid. He remembered he had many times broken Danny's arm and spraining the boy's legs as the result of their battles. Not mentioning all the cuts and bruises that must have littered the boy's body. He wished he had a chance to rewind it all, to repair all his mistakes.

"Hey, did you hear? About that kid, the scrawny one with black hair?"

Vlad perked up and slowed down his walking as he heard a couple of teenagers to his right talking excitedly. Three boys and two girls.

"Yeah, umm… that Fenton kid right?" Sauntered a dark-skinned girl while twirling her hair unconsciously.

"Yup, he died you know. Stabbed by a sword his sister said. Man, she looked awful today. I heard her talking about it to the teachers before they announce his death. They didn't say anything about the cause when they told us in the auditorium, only that he was one of the victims of the skeletons yesterday."

"Oh god, really? Well, lucky that it wasn't someone really important though. He wasn't even really known anyway, I only knew his name today when they announced it. I heard that he was a freak, always going to the bathroom and come late to class. His parents are ghost hunters right?" The other girl with a blonde hair piped in, suddenly interested in the topic.

"Yeah, he was Dash's punching bag you know. Nobody knew why he never stood up to that guy, but I bet it's because he doesn't want to get into more trouble. The teachers will side with Dash anyway, being a football star and all. His grades were awful I heard."

"Maybe that's because he was too busy spending his time in the bathroom, what did he do in there anyway?" Chuckled one of the boy; tall and lanky with black hair.

Vlad stopped walking and glared at the teenagers that were now already some paces ahead of him, completely oblivious that the man was listening to their rather cruel conversation. Although he was quite far from them, he could still hear their conversations very clearly.

And he didn't like the sound of it.

"Masturbating I bet, 'cause he could never get laid."

All the teenagers laughed at hearing one of their members (who hadn't said anything since the conversation started) -a boy with letterman jacket and brown hair- suggested the atrocious thought almost tonelessly, as if it was only a common fact.

"Ooh, that explains everything! He was always so sweaty and looked tired whenever he came back to class! I got physics with him, I saw this happened many times." Added the dark-skinned girl; jumping up and down jokingly while saying this.

They laughed again and shoved at each other playfully.

Vlad felt his blood boil when he heard them laughing about Danny's death. What in the hell was wrong with them, laughing about someone's death like that; let alone make fun of it?

How could Danny spent his days and nights fighting off the ghosts just to save these ungrateful adolescents?

Worse, they even made fun of his sacrifices for saving them. Vlad knew that whenever a ghost attacked, the boy always hid in the bathroom to transform, and used it as an excuse to the teachers whenever he was late. He saw Danny doing it once when he stalked the boy to give a surprise attack. It was awful to hear those teenagers make fun of the young hybrid in such a lewd way. Danny was such a sweet and innocent boy... and their lurid comments had shamelessly sullied the memory of him. Danny sacrificed his schoolwork, free-time, his health, everything…

Just to be made fun of?

Ungrateful. They all didn't deserve Danny's protection. Danny should have just let the ghosts send them to their demises; after all, they were the source of his pain. His peers were the ones who beat him up, made fun of him, speak ill of him, shunned him, and made him felt worthless.

But who was he to say all of these about Danny's peers? Not some days ago, he did exactly the same things to Danny.

He made the boy's life miserable; he inflicted pain upon the young hybrid. Come to think of it, the kind of pain he gave the boy was even more horrible than the ones his peers had given him. He even made Danny felt worthless in the last seconds of his life.

"Hey, wanna hit the Nasty Burger? I'm kind of hungry for a double-cheese burg now."

"Sure Matt. Hey, just wondering… are you coming to his funeral? The whole school's invited."

Matt- the boy with the letterman jacket and brown hair- shook his head flippantly.

"Nah, I got stuff to do on Sunday, I don't know him anyway. Why, are you coming Dean?"

The tall lanky one with black hair nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, I don't have anything to do on Sunday so… maybe I think I'll just come to see around. I kinda want to see it myself. Are you all coming too?"

The girls shook their heads and the blonde scoffed, "We're hitting the mall, there's a sale at Luell. They sell Fall-Winter collection and we're going to buy cute coats for winter."

The dark skinned one nodded agreeably.

"Well… I think I'm going to Fenton's funeral, the guy at least deserved some respect since he's dead now." Added a red-headed boy; the one who had started the whole conversation.

Matt glared balefully at his friend's mention of the funeral again and snapped rather tiredly,

"Sheesh, stop talking about it now-

Let's just hurry up to NB. I'm hungry."

Vlad stared hatefully at the retreating forms of the teenagers in front of him, hands shoved deep into his coat's pockets. The man then turned around to walk to another direction, as long as it was far from that group of obnoxious teens.

Keep in mind to order Skulker to cause mayhem more often at Casper High.

* * *

"Hey, wait up!"

Vlad swiveled his head and looked around, a bit startled. It sounded like Danny's voice. He looked to his side and saw a boy about Danny's age running towards his friends while calling out excitedly. His heart clenched at the sight of this. It reminded him of Danny. Everywhere he turn, anywhere he sees, he was always reminded of the young hybrid.

The man was currently at the park, just walking around and thinking to himself. He still doesn't want to go home. At his castle was where the boy's diary located. Somehow, although very curious, the man felt that he wasn't ready to read the book just yet. He was afraid that it would break his heart to read the boy's diary. It would remind him too much of Danny.

Vlad sat down on one of the park's benches, leaning on it and relaxed himself. It was already twilight; the sky was a blazing orange and tinted with deep blue; the sun was setting. He looked around the park again, noting at how people started leaving the place rather hurriedly. They must have a family to eat dinner together with. He wondered what the Fentons would do at dinner. Would they sit together and eat as usual now that they're short one member?

He sighed softly and leaned further into the bench.

He really needed to get home.

He caught a glimpse of a mop of midnight tresses from the corner of his eyes. The man turned his head to the side and saw that it was the hair of a ten year old that resembled Danny's slightly. He dropped his gaze and stared at the grass of the park after seeing that. His mind was consumed with guilt every time he saw anything that resembled Danny. Or anything that reminded him of the boy.

The little child was tugging at his mother's shirt, whining for ice cream.

"_Please _Mommy? I promise I'll clean my room today!"

The mother only sighed and petted the black unruly hair of her son and smiled tiredly, giving up to her son's whining.

"Okay, but just this once. You're still yet to recover from your flu and I don't want you getting sick again just because of eating ice cream."

The 10-year-old grinned and nodded excitedly.

"I want chocolate flavor!"

Vlad felt a tug at the corner of his lips at seeing the scene. He wondered if Danny ever whined like that, bribing Maddie or Jack to buy him ice cream by promising to clean his room. Maddie would probably be sterner than Jack who would have simply complied.

He got up and walked out of the park, passing the kid who was now staring at him with interest.

"Aiber, it's rude to stare." Chided the mother at seeing her son's gaze at Vlad. She looked up and met the man's eyes, smiling apologetically. She didn't recognize Vlad as the famous billionaire, but rather as a common man just wondering idly at the park.

"I'm sorry sir, Aiber is just getting excited at getting his ice cream."

Vlad gazed down at the child who was still looking up at him curiously. He noted that the child's eyes were a blazing green; almost like Danny's ghost half's eyes.

He looked back up at the mother and smiled amiably, "It's quite alright. You have such a great son. Have a good day."

The woman nodded a thank you at the compliment and took her son's hand in hers, walking to the nearest ice cream parlor.

Vlad's gaze followed both the mother's and son's back. He inhaled deeply and looked up at the setting sky. It was mostly colored in dark blue now, only some spark of orange tinting at the bottom of the view. He wondered if Danny was up there, watching him and everybody else. He was a protector and Vlad was sure that even in death, the young phantom will always be watching over them.

He quickly slid into a nearby alley, looked to his back, making sure that no one was looking, then shifted to his ghost form. Black rings washed over him, changing his ivory skin into sickly blue.

He then proceeded to fly home as the sky turned darker and the orange flame of the setting sun snuffed out.

* * *

"Welcome back Mr. Masters, your tea is already waiting in your study as usual. I hope that the flight was fine?"

"Yes, thank you Albert. It was fine. I would be heading to my bedroom now, just leave the tea in the study. Don't interrupt me while I'm there, please Albert?" Answered Vlad, holding out his coat to his butler.

"As you wish, Mr. Masters, I will inform the other maids."

Vlad nodded curtly, and gave a slight polite smile to his butler, showing his gratitude. Albert had been working under him for many years. He was a polite, efficient, and a very good employee. He never asked questions concerning Vlad's secrets or his master's interest in the paranormal. He simply kept to himself, aware of his place.

"Oh, and please Albert, if there was any call from my office tell them that I am busy at the moment. I will call them back later."

The old butler smiled politely back, the wrinkles on his face creasing when he made the gesture.

"Understood, Mr. Masters."

Vlad nodded again, satisfied with the answer. He then walked briskly to the direction of his bedroom.

Opening the door he inhaled and exhaled his breath deeply. There. The book that has been plaguing his mind for the whole day; sitting calmly on his desk. That dull red, hard-covered book. In long strides the man crossed the room until he was suddenly standing in front of his mahogany desk. The man looked down upon the book. He fingered the cover silently, marveling in the feeling of the red fabric covering the front. He picked the diary up gingerly, holding it carefully in his hands. He walked over to his bedroom's door and closed it, locking the bolts. He then sat on his armchair, the red diary in hand. He gazed forlornly at the object, closed his eyes for a moment, and opened it.

He had read the first page while in Danny's room, so he skipped to the next page. It seems that Danny doesn't write in his diary regularly, only when he was in the mood or if his sister nagged him to write in it like he did so in his first page. The boy sometimes didn't write the date of his entries. Vlad could only deduce when this was written according to the boy's hand writings.

In the second page of the book the entry was much longer, about one and a half page. It was written in Danny's tiny and messy handwriting, but still decent enough to be able to read. It was about his days at his school, about funny and trivial things he experienced and new friends he just met. It also tells about his bullying, about how some kids in his class- a boy named Kwan and that Dash kid again- stomped on his back and leg. Vlad felt awful after reading that second entry. Danny was only what? About four or five when he wrote this? How could the boy grew up into such forgiving individual when he was bullied and made fun of since he was a little child?

It made shame crawl mercilessly inside the man. He'd been striving to kill Jack for the incident back then in college. He had been so bitter about it, yet here Danny had been bullied for his whole existence but he still protected his ungrateful peers and partial teachers from the ghosts, sacrificing his own life.

Every single day.

_**12 August 1997**_

_**School was awful today. Dash locked me inside the locker again, for the 6**__**th**__** times this week. He also swapped our English tests, he has mine and I have his. His grade in the test is really awful. He got D-. Mom told me that it's been the 4**__**th**__** times I got bad tests and she didn't allow me to watch TV for the whole week. I couldn't tell her that it wasn't my test because then I would be a tattletale and Dash would beat me up more if he finds out. I hate everything.**_

He could understand how Danny must have felt. He too, had felt it in some point of his life where he feels like he hated everything. Mainly, the time he spent in the hospital was to hate everything around him.

He read of Danny's days through the boy's 1st grade, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and up until he was in Junior High. In that period of time the bullying got worse. That Dash and his friend Kwan had made almost everybody in school to avoid Danny and his two friends, spreading rumors about how he was a freak and have two crazy parents who hunt ghosts. Danny didn't write this in a whiny manner; only stating it nonchalantly as if it was only a mere common fact that he was already accustomed to everyday. He gnawed at his bottom lip when he read at how Danny handled everything so… so calmly. With no real resentment as if he just accepted it because he somehow… deserved it.

There was a line in the book that disturbed Vlad. It was written when Danny was still 9 years old, according to the date.

_**Sometimes I think that maybe Dash was right all along. He and all his friends kept saying that I was only a waste of space in everybody's life. I agree that nobody really cared about me, but it's not that I want to be called like that too. But I think it's true though, Mom and Dad cared because they're my mom and dad. Jazz only cared because she's my sister. If she wasn't my sister, she wouldn't care at all. I'm so different from Jazz. She's smart, look good, and everybody likes her. I only have Tucker and Sam and they are the only two people aside from my family that cared about me. Sam's parents care a lot for her. They like to buy her lots of things and always say yes to whatever she asks them. Tucker's mom and dad always ask him about his day whenever he got home. I know that it's bad to think that Mom and Dad didn't care about me just because they never asked about my day. I understand, they're busy people. Their inventions are important.**_

_**But sometimes I just wonder that maybe-**_

_**Maybe I am less important than Jazz and their inventions. They always have time for Jazz.**_

…

'_Maybe I am less important than Jazz and their inventions…'_

Danny was jealous of his sister. His perfect, smart, and beautiful sister, who was liked by everybody despite her parent's unusual job. Jazz was never bullied for that reason. She was never bullied at all as far as Vlad knows. And Vlad knew that for sure because he kept tabs on the Fenton children.

It was normal for anybody to feel jealous for at least once in a while of their siblings, but for someone like Danny to feel like that… it was disconcerting. The boy rarely showed emotions like jealousy or resentment for people he loved. In conclusion, anything that made Danny felt jealous must affected him so much that it made an impact on the boy.

His grip tightened as he replayed the line in his head, again and again.

It was all so unfair. Why did he have to go so early? Danny had yet to taste the world, the joy of life, love…

All the boy had ever tasted in life was the bitter part of it. Anything that Danny frequently experience was hatefulness, the feeling of being unwanted, unimportant-

_Worthless._

It was implied in the way Danny wrote in his diary that he felt worthless. He wasn't important to anyone. That if he was to die, then so be it.

Nobody will care.

Is that why the boy threw himself in countless battles without further consideration of his own well being?

Did he wish to _die?_

Is that why he was always so careless about himself but deemed that everyone was worth his protection because they are somehow-

More important than him?

_**5 March 2003**_

_**Today was just plain annoying. I got stuffed inside the locker again, and Dash managed to somehow find me avoiding him after school. He tried to stick my head inside the dumpster again like yesterday, but I was faster than him, for this time thankfully. I don't find being stuck inside anything fun to do. Tucker couldn't hang out after school because he got detention for showing up late in art class, again. Can you believe it, Tucker's on the verge of failing ART CLASS. All you have to do is just show up, which he obviously lacks of. Tucker hates art. It's just a waste of time for him. Sam couldn't hang out too because her parents made her come with them to some gala. All dressed up in a dress her mother picked for her. She hated it.**_

_**Mom and Dad are still working on that portal thing non-stop. I don't really think it will work at all, besides, how could there be real ghosts? For God's sakes, they both hadn't even encountered any ghosts before in their whole life. They only relied on theories. No wonder I was labeled 'the freaks' kid'.**_

_**I didn't do anything interesting today, but if you count calling out to your friends to get you out of your locker interesting then you should try it sometimes. Crud. **_

Vlad continued skimming through Danny's Junior High days. Mostly, it was about trivial things, things that fascinated the boy. Whether it's about a good test he got or his accomplishment in avoiding his bullies, several things he wish he had, new album that came out and he wanted to buy…

It never occurred to him that Danny was just like any other kids his age with mundane wishes and simple wanting in life. He always thought the boy as his enemy, not a child.

Rifling through the pages of the book, the man finally gotten to the part where Danny entered High School. The boy didn't write very often in his diary, the book still had about a quarter pages blank.

_**My arms and legs kept going invisible and intangible from time to time and here I thought it was only a onetime thing because of the accident three days ago… When I woke up this morning my hair was white again, exactly as when I got out from that damn portal. It's all so confusing, what am I now? Can it be possible that I'm- I'm a ghost? But I feel human; I look like human… sometimes. Great, now my parents are going to freaking hunt me if they know that their son had turned into more than just a regular freak. I'm a freaking half human/ghost thing! Does that mean I'm half dead too? I didn't even get any funeral for being half dead.**_

Vlad almost wanted to laugh and cry at the same time when he read the last line. Danny had made a joke about not having a funeral for being half dead.

Now he's getting one for being fully dead.

He wondered how Danny must have felt the first time he got his ghost power. Did he get scared? Afraid? Unsure? Worried?

It suddenly dawned on him that Danny had always lived and been on a fine, dangerous line. He lied constantly to his parents who hunted his ghost half, making excuses for countless things, all because he was afraid that they will find out. What if they did find out? Would they think that Danny was overshadowed? Tried to rip out his ghost half? Would they disown the boy?

If they did, then where would Danny be?

Vlad couldn't believe that Danny lived through all these fears constantly, every day, every night, every time he went to sleep and get up in the morning. Terror must have been grained into his mind. No wonder that he was sometimes so jumpy and moody. He must have felt scared… scared that his parents wouldn't accept him for being part the thing they hate.

And he did no better at lifting the fear and worry from the boy's shoulders. If so, he made it worse.

The boy managed to confuse and irk him even in his death. He felt irked that Danny could make him feel so very guilty.

But he couldn't deny that he missed Danny.

He sighed and flipped the pages, jumping from one scene to another in Danny's everyday life. There was his first fight with a real ghost; Danny called her the Lunch Lady. There were also several other ghosts that Vlad recognized. Technus, The Box Ghost, Skulker, Ember…

_Desiree?_

Vlad had never heard of this ghost before. He squinted his eyes, inspecting the name and the ghost's power that Danny had described, making sure that he didn't get it wrong.

Granting… wishes?

That's Desiree's power?

Danny described Desiree as a ghost genie who grants any kind of wishes she heard. She often twists and bends the wishes to her own will, but if you said your wish in perfect details with no loopholes, she wouldn't be able to twist and turn it horrible in the outcome.

Desiree.

That's it! Vlad's mind snapped up at the sudden idea that popped into his head. He could order Skulker to search for the ghost mage! He could make a wish for Danny to be alive again! Hell, he could wish anything he wants as long as he was aware for any lurking loopholes in his words! He could… he could have Danny back. Danny would have another chance to live and enjoy life… to feel happiness...

He could give Danny the happiness that his friends and family couldn't give him.

He could protect Danny from it all. He could save the boy from his ghost fights.

He could have the boy back and have the chance to fix it all.

He marked the page that he was currently reading with a slip of paper he found in his pocket and snapped the diary shut. This is it. This is what he would do. He would have Danny back; he would do anything to have the boy back.

Even if it means suffering in a long hunt searching for the ghost mage.

He would contact Skulker tonight. This plan must proceed immediately.

* * *

**A/N:** **Yes, Vlad will eventually meet both Desiree and Clockwork. For your information, I will post parts of Danny's diary in every coming chapters as the opening. The diary will not stop here because it is part of the crucial matter in the fic. It creates the right feeling and makes a good opening. To be honest, I wasn't quite satisfied with the outcome of this chapter. It lacked something. Perhaps you could point out what is it that I'm missing? Please, don't be afraid to give me harsh critiques, I find it quite useful in creating new chapters.**

**Well, see you next time. I hope you all have a good day.****  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Frozen Corpse

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.**

**A/N: It's been a while, school's been very busy but now that holiday's here, I'm continuing with the fic. Thank you so much for all of you who gave reviews! Again, thank you for **_Arteesta_** for giving such constructive critiques and useful comments! To **_Sophie_**: You are right, I'll keep it in mind to deepen Vlad's character more, you've been a great help! I appreciate your critique and I will also soon edit the third chapter, adding your suggestion to it. Also, I just found an Indonesian friend here, **_Ichiruzuka_**! You have been such a great supporter to the story! For the rest of you, thank you so much and I'm sorry that I can't answer all your reviews, I hope this doesn't hinder you all from giving me more! I still think this chapter is missing something, but because I've taken so long, I'll just post it anyway. Constructive criticisms are welcomed, please point out mistakes and give your opinions concerning the plot. If anything doesn't make sense, don't hesitate to point it out!**

* * *

**SACRIFICE**

**CHAPTER 3: FROZEN CORPSE**

**Star: 14 October 2012**

**Done: 20 December 2012**

* * *

**_7 October 1998_**

**_Today Tucker and I met a new friend at school. She's a new student from outside Amity. When I first met her, I thought she was just like any other girls. She wore a lot of pink, and her dress was all frilly. Her hair is blonde and straight and long, and her eyes are grey. She got placed in our class and Miss Hailey introduced her to us saying that her name is Samantha Manson. Miss Hailey made her sit with me. I was nervous when I got seated with her, I don't usually feel comfortable around girls. They make a lot of noise and sometimes they are just so annoying… like Jazz. But she was different. She talks a lot, yes, but she also knows a lot about boy's games. _**

**_She told me to call her Sam, not Samantha. She said she hates to be called by her first name. Tucker called her Samantha to test her out and he got kicked. I got her point across. Her kick for Tucker is enough for a warning. He limped for the whole day._**

**_Dash teased me for being friends with Sam because she's a girl. I don't mind to be friends with a girl; Sam is quite cool for being one. She just moved here two days ago, her parents decided that they wanted to move because Amity Park is small, and there aren't many people here. I'm happy that she wanted to be friends with me. Not many people wanted to be my friend because Dash told them to stay away from the Fenton kid. Sam didn't care, she said I'm an okay person and quite cool for a boy. She's really nice. _**

**_Mom made cookies and she let me to watch TV for two hours. Dash didn't swap our tests today because for this once his grade was good. He cheated. But I was happy that he got a good score this time. That means I can watch TV._**

_**I wish Dash can get good scores every day.**_

* * *

"Mr. Masters?"

"Yes?"

Vlad looked up from his work; his right hand stopping from the half finished signature. His blonde secretary was there, holding out files to him. The man reached out for it and took them from the woman, eyes quickly roaming through the pages of it.

"The hospital's morgue called today. They asked if you wanted to retrieve the young Fenton's corpse. They said if you would like to, they will ready him. You can call them and tell the staff at what time you're going to take him to be dressed. They are done with stitching up the wound and examining the body for any other cuts."

Vlad who was still checking his files suddenly stilled at the mention of the hospital. He remembered then that it was already time to dress Danny and to choose for his coffin. Eyes still looking at the files, he nodded curtly at the young secretary.

"Tell them that I would be there to take him at…" he glanced fleetingly at his watch, swiftly noting the time, "Say about… 11 AM. The Fentons wanted to put his body in their house before the burial tomorrow."

The blonde woman nodded and took the files that Vlad had handed back to her.

"Please give these files to Mr. Hubert from the Axel Company. Inform him that today's meeting with DALV is delayed. I have a private business to attend to. Also, arrange another date for the meeting, three days from now."

His secretary nodded again, clutching the files in her hands carefully. She fiddled with the edge of the plastic, looking thoughtful. The woman stood there for a while as Vlad continued writing down his signatures, signing contracts and taking notes.

"I am truly sorry for your loss, Mr. Masters."

He gazed up from his work, eyeing his employee's face. She seemed stricken standing there; as if afraid that she had said the wrong thing. He sighed and tucked away some stray hair that was falling to his face behind one ear. Putting his pen aside; the man clasped his hands on top of the desk and gave a slight smile, the quirk of lips looking a bit strained and weary.

"I appreciate your concern, Miss Halle."

She nodded slowly and dropped her head, looking down at the files again. Ever since the death of the young boy, her employer had been very different. He was usually full of confidence, strong, and arrogant even. But now… he was just… so lifeless. Hollow.

"Excuse me then, Mr. Masters."

"You may, Miss Halle."

With that, Vlad took his pen back into hand and resumed his work while the young woman quickly strode out from the man's office. Anywhere was better than the stifling air of her employer's vicinity.

* * *

Vlad gathered up his papers, putting them in neat stacks along with his signed contracts. He dropped his pen tiredly on the wooden surface and put his head in one hand, elbows resting on the desk.

He was devastated. He could no longer see the point in putting any effort in his work anymore. Everything seemed awfully mundane, bland, trivial, uninteresting.

Utterly unnerving.

How could anybody else continue their life when he felt like his own was falling apart? There were people laughing in the office behind his; joking about their family life, making plans for the weekend, and whining about their little problems. How their wives always forget to buy groceries, their kids throwing tantrums, shows they missed because of working… he couldn't stand it all. Everybody seemed so awfully happy while he was drowning in misery.

He strewed the neatly stacked papers with a swipe of hand, scattering the contracts and notes he had so carefully managed before haphazardly on the desk. A growl emitted from the back of his throat as he slammed one of his fists on the hard wood. The man stayed there, glaring at the once neatly-stacked papers. He glanced at his watch again, eyes narrowing in distaste as he saw the seconds of the analog contraption ticking continually, ever precise. Time goes on apparently. It does not stop, whether he wanted it so badly or not. He will have to face the world until the day he die, bearing this guilt that was eating at his heart; wrenching it apart with its searing pain.

He stood from his seat and let out a long, tired sigh. The man gazed listlessly at the mess he'd made. He felt like laughing. Vlad Masters had never lost control like this ever before. It was very uncharacteristic of him to be throwing fits like this. He had always been so calm and collected.

He brushed back his hair and took another glance at his watch. It was time. There was no point in delaying the inevitable, sooner or later he would have to see the boy's dead body. He shivered a bit, head dipping down and hands clenching the edge of his wooden desk. He had to find that ghost mage; she could be the answer to all his questions and the end to all of his misery. She could bring the boy back. No matter what it takes, he would have him back. He owed that much to Maddie and even to Jack. After all he did…

He owed that much to Danny as well.

Vlad glanced again at the mess of papers. He was not in the mood to spruce his work; he doesn't feel compelled to do so. With a long weary sigh, the man walked over to his door and exited. As he stepped out, rows and rows of cubicles filled with the chatter of his workers suddenly fell silent. Every one of them stared uneasily at him, some fumbling with their work, pretending to be busy even though they just did idle around before. Several people started whispering to one another quietly, their voices a low husk that it would nearly be impossible for anybody to hear it. But Vlad heard, nonetheless. He had enhanced hearing after all.

He glared at them all, a bit irked that he had suddenly became the center of their unwanted attention.

He doesn't need their sympathy, if so, it just irk him further when they stare at him with pity shining in their eyes. He was Vladimir Masters. He doesn't need anybody's pity. It is anybody that is not him that needed his pity, not the other way around. But then again, since Danny died…

He found that he doesn't really care much about anything anymore.

After some awkward and tense silence in the room, Vlad cleared his throat with an intent to snap his workers out of the deafening, if not, unnerving quietness. One or two of them squeaked in surprise, the others quickly averted their eyes from the silver haired man. They started typing away on their keyboards fervently, not looking in his direction anymore. Vlad sighed inwardly.

_This is going to be a long day_.

* * *

The hospital looked particularly happy, what with all the kind faces of their nurses and jovial smiles of its doctors, walking around blithely in the sanitary building. The man could feel a start of a frown on his face. Amity Hospital was not a very sympathetic place for its patients. They showed too much of happy faces. Once the man stepped inside of the building, the receptionist's attention instantly snapped onto him. The woman behind the desk widened her eyes at the sight of the billionaire extraordinaire, Vlad Masters. She readjusted her glasses and quickly took her pen as Vlad came nearing her desk.

"How can I help you, Mr. Masters?"

Huh. No need for any introduction apparently. This woman already knew his name. Oh well, the perks of being famous.

"I believe I have an appointment to make at 11 AM."

The woman nodded quickly, scanning her list of scheduled appointments for the day. Her eyebrows creased when she saw what kind of appointment the man had.

"Oh, you are here to…" she scanned the list one more time, making sure that she wasn't mistaken the first time, "…to take young Daniel Fenton's body, correct?" She looked up to Vlad, her eyes shining with sympathy.

"Yes. I believe so."

"The doctor wanted to meet you first, to talk and settle about some matters, Mr. Masters. You may come to Dr. Lam's office; he's the one responsible for taking care of Daniel Fenton. His room is on the third floor, left corridor. You will find his name plate on the door."

"Very well, could you inform him that I am here?"

"Oh yes, please wait, Mr. Masters."

The young brunette picked her phone up and started dialing the doctor's office. She quickly informed him that his appointment has arrived. The other end of the line said something about needing to talk to Mr. Masters and settle pertaining some important things. Please do send him up now, thank you. Don't make him wait.

"Of course Mr. Lam, I will inform him right away."

_Click._

"He has a very important thing to discuss with you concerning the boy and asked if you could delay his funeral for tomorrow. His team had found something very interesting about Daniel, Mr. Masters."

_What?_

_What does she mean by that? _

_Did… did the doctor found out about the ectoplasm in Daniel's blood? _

Oh god, this is not good.

"Why?" Asked Vlad cautiously.

"He didn't tell me further, he said to just go and meet him now. Third floor, left corridor." Repeated the young girl professionally.

Vlad nodded slowly, still processing the bit of information in his head. The man entered the elevator, eyes scanning the numbers of buttons the contraption has. Third floor, right.

He pushed the button and the doors slid close.

_Ding._

Third floor.

What did she mean about 'something interesting'? Could it mean that… they had found out about Danny being a half ghost? Would he have to explain then? What if they also find out that he was a half ghost too? Would his life be in danger? Vlad could feel a sliver of fear coursing through his mind. So many questions that he could not answer nor he knows the answer of.

Left corridor.

The name plate was displayed so blatantly obvious on the door; silver with large black fonts on it. It proudly stated that Dr. Joseph Lam was the person behind the sterile looking door. Vlad took hold of the shiny silver knob and turned it open. Stepping in, he found a man that was probably in his late twenties- sitting languidly on an armchair, looking relaxed and not having a care in the world. His first impression of Dr. Lam was…

Cheeky brat.

Somehow, it reminded him of Danny again. The way the doctor smiled widely up at him from his sitting position and not standing up yet to shake his hands were signs that this man doesn't really have any respect for people that was probably in higher society than him. Yes, just like Daniel.

"Mr. Masters. It is a pleasure to meet you."

He finally stood up and strolled over to Vlad, smiling amiably all the while. The doctor offered his hand and Vlad took it politely. He noted that the young man wore rectangular glasses and has unruly jags of black hair. His face looked foreign; the eyes an unmistakable shape of almond, colored in deep molten brown. And the doctor was fair skinned just like Danny. Why was it that everywhere he turns he always sees people that resemble the deceased boy?

The younger man released his hand and walked over to his desk, picking up some files.

"Have Sophie told you that I requested to delay Daniel's funeral? Have you given any thought about it?"

"Sophie?" Repeated Vlad in a questioning tone, a bit confused.

"Oh, pardon," he flipped through the files, searching for something in particular "the lady behind the receptionist desk. Her name is Sophie." The young doctor replied, a hint of an accent coloring his words.

Vlad quickly noted that this man was new in Amity, seeing that he has an English accent that probably came from somewhere in London. "I see. No, I haven't decided yet. Why did you suddenly want me to delay the funeral?"

He looked up from his files, eyes shining with something akin to excitement.

"You wouldn't believe me if I said this, Mr. Masters, but…" the young doctor paused mid sentence- probably for the dramatic effect, "…we found something very, very unusual about Daniel. Is it Daniel? What did the boy preferred to be called?"

Vlad's eyebrows creased. "He preferred to be called Danny. What do you mean by… unusual?" At this question, Vlad could feel his heartbeat quicken, mind whirring with certain possibilities.

The doctor's expression became a tad serious, eyes gazing at Vlad relentlessly. He put the files in his hand back on the desk, and suddenly, the doctor dropped the bomb Vlad hadn't expected he- as The Vlad Masters-has the capability to be so shocked of. "We found ectoplasm in Danny's blood." Vlad could literally feel something crawling on his suit-clad back.

"Actually, his blood is composed by each fifty percent of ectoplasm and human blood. We're having theories about the boy's condition. Are you already aware of this?"

Oh, yes. This is exactly what he feared when that young receptionist informed him about the suspicious-sounding 'interesting matter'.

Vlad stared back at the young man before him, his face betraying the turmoil he feels on the inside.

"I wasn't aware that you performed experiment on his body without asking for permission," bit out the older man caustically, "you should have asked for the Fentons _or_ my consent."

The young doctor reeled back at hearing Vlad's cold tone; though he quickly countered the man's words. "Forgive us Mr. Masters; please do accept our deepest apologies. We were curious when we found out and we felt ashamed that we failed to inform you or the Fentons before for this examination on young Danny. But please understand. This is a new discovery, further research is needed." Vlad nodded stiffly, crossing his arms on top of his chest. The doctor was young so it was of no wonder that he was quite ecstatic about whatever theories he was having in his head concerning the ectoplasm found in Danny. The doctor continued his monologue to the billionaire before him, his words soft and calculated.

"The Axion scientists are having theories about the existence of half-ghosts..." trailed off the doctor a bit; eyes flicking up to the ceiling of his office and a finger tapping on his chin, "we suspected that Danny might be this half ghost that we theorized. He might even have a ghost half before-or in other words, the boy could change form; though it's still only a theory…"

Vlad's eyes widened. Oh no.

"That is ridiculous. It's just not possible." Replied Vlad, sounding a bit wary.

The young man smiled at him, shaking his brunet head a bit. "Yes, I do agree that it sounded rather astounding, but the theory is very likely to be the case. Did the boy ever tell you anything? Do his friends know, perhaps? That he ever had any ghost half? We would like to interview his family as well... if it's possible."

Vlad panicked for a moment; though he didn't show it. His face was the ever blank mask that he frequently wears.

"And what do you mean by Axion scientists?"

"Oh, did I mention that?" His eyes squinted in realization, lips pursing. "True, Axion scientists. I am currently aware that they are working under your employ, isn't that right Mr. Masters?"

Vlad wanted to roll his eyes. _Really_-thought him blandly-_the Axion people could be quite the headache at the very inconvenient of times. Leaving me out of this new 'discovery'? Asinine. _

"Well, it is very likely that you would find ectoplasm in his body. His parents are ghost hunters after all; he had been in contact with many weapons and contraptions that have ectoplasm in it."

The doctor stared fixedly at Vlad, eyes contemplating on his next words.

"Since the first appearance of ghosts in Amity Park, scientists and doctors have been having theories about whether it's possible to merge ectoplasm with human blood or not. We wanted to experiment to prove this theory, but it just wouldn't do because it will then be classified as immoral to experiment on human beings, so the theory stayed only as a theory.

"But when you brought his body here and we performed autopsy on him… we found that his blood is not normal. It matches our earlier assumptions…"

Vlad stared back at the doctor uneasily, shifting his weight from one foot to another while crossing his arm on his chest.

"If you don't mind, I would like to sit to process this."

The young man looked up, eyes widening in realization as he noticed that he hadn't even offered a seat to _The_ Vlad Masters.

"Oh, yes, of course. Please do have a seat." His hand gestured at Vlad.

The billionaire nodded and strode over to the nearest chair in front of the doctor's desk. The other man too then sat down behind his own wooden workplace, clasping his hand and resting it on the hard surface of his furniture.

"We also noticed that the stages of death in Danny's body are not normal."

Vlad frowned when he heard this. "Please elaborate."

The doctor shifted his gaze from Vlad's eyes, looking up at some spot on the white walls of his office instead. "Usually, corpses will go through seven stages as the signs of their deaths. They will go through Pallor Mortis, Algor, Rigor, and Livor Mortis as the first four stages that are most noticeable. Then there will be putrefaction, decomposition, and skeletonization as the last. Danny has been here for about three days and yet, he had shown no further than three stages whereas he should have been in the stage of Livor Mortis by now. His stage stopped at Rigor Mortis. His body didn't go through the fourth stage where it was supposed to discolor and starting to rot. It's as if… he was just frozen…"

"…Unable to decompose."

The young doctor looked back up at Vlad, searching for the man's reaction at his last statement.

"Are you sure that it's not just because he was kept inside the morgue?"

The brunet flicked his eyes upward, staring at the ceiling while reciting his thoughts. "We've contemplated that. But even if it's the case, though he was kept in the morgue, some parts of his body should have changed color. Take for an example; bluing hands or toes. But his skin color stayed the same. Looking at him, you would have thought that he was only sleeping, Mr. Masters. No signs that he is a corpse whatsoever; if not for the stiffness."

Vlad processed all of this in his head.

Dr. Lam's eyes flickered back to Vlad momentarily, eyeing the man while tapping his fingers slowly on his desk. He sighed and addressed the billionaire,

"I am truly sorry for your loss. But if you could, we would like to further our research. It's not every day that you would stumble into something as unusual as this. Please, delay the funeral," he sighed and continued, "for at least two or three more weeks."

Vlad's eyes narrowed. "That wouldn't do, Doctor. We've set up everything for tomorrow and we will proceed with it."

The younger man rubbed his forehead, leaning back on his chair. He put a hand over his face and dragged it down his eyes, exhaling softly.

"Well, maybe we could think of some other ways to keep researching him."

"Danny is not an object, Mr. Lam." Vlad snapped out, dropping the formal address of doctor and addressed the man with his last name instead.

He was angry now. The overly cheeky doctor said this all as if the boy was some kind of interesting animal to be scrutinized over. Even in his death, Danny was still being humiliated by the people around him. They all have no respect for the young hybrid. It saddens the man that the boy's fate was so very unfortunate, even in death.

The doctor looked slightly embarrassed by Vlad's last statement. His eyes winced a little and he averted his gaze from the man before him, looking ashamed and forlorn.

"I apologize."

An awkward silence followed after the doctor asked for yet another forgiveness. It made him grew tired of hearing apologies coming out of the doctor's mouth repeatedly. Asking for his forgiveness, over and over and over again.

Like Danny did…

The memory came to his mind unexpectedly; making the man close his eyes in the feeling of dread. He remembered holding the young phantom in his arm and could see the blood adorning Danny's shirt in his head. He could picture the boy's frail hand shaking in pain, and quiet sobs coming out from his small face. Small, sweet, naïve little Daniel. Who always loved but was never loved.

Brushed off by the people around him.

Went unnoticed.

Unwanted.

Mocked.

He sighed and uncrossed his arms, resting them on his knees instead. The doctor looked back up at Vlad when he heard the man's exhaling of breath, waiting for him to say anything to break the ominous silence.

Vlad rubbed the bridge of his nose and took a deep calming breath. Come to think of this again, maybe their discovery about Danny's ghost half wouldn't really endanger him. If so, it would help the boy. He would be respected as he surely deserves to get- the respect from his peers for sacrificing himself every single day for the sake of their pitiful lives. Danny would be happy if he was to know that he would always be remembered for his sacrifice, to finally be recognized as the famous Danny Phantom- the ghost kid who haunted the town of Amity.

This way, Danny's wish would be granted- his wished to tell everyone about his ghost half, didn't he? To be able to feel safe was the boy's desire, was it not? Granted, he was dead now, but he would at least still gain the respect and adoration he deserves to get.

Vlad took a deep breath and gazed unrelentingly at the doctor before him, making the younger man squirm a little under his blank stare.

"The Fentons wouldn't approve of him being experimented on," the doctor who had hoped for Vlad to say yes faltered slightly when he heard this- his eyes that were wide while waiting for Vlad to speak drooped.

"However," the younger male perked up, his fingers doing a little tap-tap on the wooden surface, "if you wish to observe the boy's stages of death, you may do it. But we will still proceed with his funeral tomorrow."

"How are we supposed to do that if the boy were to be buried?" Asked the young man a bit perplexed, eyebrows knitting in confusion.

Vlad sighed and rubbed his temple. "I would have to sort this out with the Fentons, but I was thinking of not burying the boy if you want to observe him still. If he proved not to rot for over than three days then your theory may have some truth in it- that Daniel might be a half ghost," hinted Vlad at the young doctor, "I was thinking of putting Daniel in a glass coffin. That way, your team can still observe him. We will put him inside a mausoleum, so unwanted people wouldn't mess with the coffin,"

"I will have to contact the people to build said mausoleum in over a night, so it would be ready for the funeral tomorrow." Finished Vlad, tucking a stray hair behind his ear.

The doctor smiled gratefully.

* * *

Calling his team to prepare for a mausoleum proved to be of no problem for the billionaire. They had promised and guaranteed him that it will be ready by tomorrow evening, the exact time when Danny was supposed to be buried. He also had ordered for a glass coffin, confusing the people he ordered it to.

_Why a glass coffin? _They had asked; a bit perplexed at Vlad's unusual request, especially because the coffin was also expected to be ready by tomorrow evening.

He didn't answer them and his men were wise enough to understand that they were not to ask any questions. It was best to keep them for themselves. Such actions were not to be tolerated shall they ever breach it.

After sorting things out with the doctor-_they were not to, by any means, cut Danny open, no sir_-he was finally led to the morgue and see the prove of the lack of rotting in Danny's body himself. His breath caught in his throat as he gazed down upon the boy's silent form. The doctor was right. Danny didn't look dead, his face forever etched in a peaceful state. Vlad brushed back the black bangs and was surprised when his hand touched the boy's skin. It was _very_ cold. Not the normal cold of a rotting corpse, but frozen cold.

He had quickly understood that it was Danny's ice core acting up, freezing his whole body and preserving it from rotting.

Vlad had taken the liberty of delivering Danny's corpse to the Fenton household, both Jack and Maddie were too shaken to stomach the idea of seeing their son's corpse in the hospital. Jack wanted to retrieve the body himself at first, but his wife had cried and asked for him to stay at their house and let Vlad handle it. She still couldn't believe that her baby boy was dead. Maddie needed her husband to be by her side when her beloved son's body arrives.

Simply put, it was utter chaos when Vlad finally arrived with Danny in tow, tucked neatly in his interim reliquary, dressed in a fine black suit and blue tie. Maddie broke down again, crying by her son's coffin and kept muttering nonsense to herself, that no, it couldn't be real. Jazz only behold this all from the doorway of their kitchen, refusing to approach her brother's dead body. Her eyes were red as she pressed a fisted knuckle to her mouth to stifle her own small sobs.

Vlad had slowly explained to them about the theory those doctors and scientists were having. Jack listened silently while Maddie tried to lessen her sobs in order to hear what the man was saying to her.

"They said that Danny might be a half ghost. His blood is not normal."

Their eyes widened, Jazz's intake of small gasp resounded from the kitchen doorway. She had been listening intently to the adults' talking for some while, shocked as well to hear about the doctors' theory. She had known for some while that Danny was Phantom- having seen him change form herself before- but hearing it again from someone else made it the more real to her. Maddie felt a stab of guilt when she heard about the ectoplasm, had even said that it was her fault for letting her kids being in the vicinity of her experiments. Vlad reassured her patiently that it wasn't anybody's fault and continued his dialogue to them.

"His body hasn't shown the normal stages of death."

The both of them had nodded, too tired to say anything else. The Fentons agreed to let Danny be put inside a glass coffin. Vlad was momentarily reminded of Snow White... or Sleeping Beauty. Danny was fitting in regards of eternal sleep.

Now the man was back to sitting, busying himself with endless strings of paper works. The only change was that of the environment around him. He was in his study, the night had fallen and its sky full of stars could be seen through the withdrawn curtains of his windows. His pen scratched the white sheets of the work-related papers, but his mind was on anything but work.

"Plasmius."

Vlad looked up when he heard someone addressing him by his other name. A robot contraption was standing in front of him, its whole body lighted by an other-worldly aura, a green flame on its head where hair was supposed to be. Skulker.

"Have you found the ghost genie, Skulker?" He resumed his writing, not bothering to look over at the other anymore. The robot frowned and stepped over to Vlad's desk, crossing his mechanical hands on his chest.

"I tried, but Desiree is a very elusive ghost. It is not easy to catch her, much less bringing her here."

Vlad only nodded and continued writing more.

"Why do you want the ghost so bad anyway? If you have anything to wish to her it isn't very likely that she will grant it in the right way. She will only mess with your wish, Vlad. You'll only end up getting troubles from her."

This time, Vlad looked up and gazed listlessly at the ghost. He sighed and rubbed his temple in a tired manner, leaning back on his seat. Skulker raised an eyebrow at his employer's unusual display of weakness. Vlad Plasmius wasn't one to show any kinds of emotions.

"Just bring the genie here once you've captured her. That is all I ask. If you manage to do it soon, I'll replace the weapons in your suit with new ones."

Skulker uncrossed his arms and heaved a sigh. "It's about the whelp, isn't it?"

Vlad looked away, opting to look out of his windows into the starry night. Such beautiful night, too bad he wasn't in the mood to enjoy its beauty.

"Plasmius, not to be rude or anything but, you can't wish him back."

"And why not?" He looked over to Skulker, his words coming out a bit harsh, making the ghost flinch, "I will make sure that I make no loopholes in my wish. She will be forced to grant it the way she's supposed to."

"It's just not right, you're not supposed to bring the dead back to living, Plasmius. I'm sure that even she could not do such things. No ghosts have the power to bring back what's already dead."

Vlad angrily slammed his fisted hands on the desk, standing up from his seat. "Just do as I say Skulker, I could at least _try_," he pointed a forefinger at the surprised ghost, "if she couldn't, there must be other ways. I will find it, one way or another. I will even contemplate searching for the master of time myself."

Skulker's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "You can't be serious, Plasmius! Nobody even knows where he really lives; his quarter must be protected with ancient magic! You are endangering yourself just for searching him!"

"Then just bring the genie here and let us see what she can do to bring the boy back!" He yelled in frustration at Skulker, banging his fist on the desk.

Skulker reeled back and gazed unbelievingly at his employer. "Plasmius, I think it's better for you to just forget about your plan. The whelp is already dead, like it or not. There is nothing you can do." The mechanical ghost said the last words in a softer tone, feeling an utter sympathy for his employer. Vlad was so hell bent on bringing the boy back that he has starting to make no sense. What was dead was dead; nothing could change that, not even a genie's powerful magic.

Skulker's words hurt more than Vlad could anticipate. When he said that Danny was already dead, the truth seemed to clarify that the boy's truly gone. But he wouldn't stop trying. He had to at least _try._

"I am not in the mood to argue with you, Skulker. Come back again when you've managed to capture the ghost. I will be waiting."

That said, the man walked out from his study, leaving a bewildered Skulker behind.

* * *

_**5 July 2003**_

_**You wouldn't believe me, Sam colored her hair black and she also cut it very short! She skinned one side of it for Christ's sake! I can't imagine how her parents must have reacted at that. Today when she went to school she wore all black. Black shirt, black pants, black boots, black nail polish. She also put on purple contact lenses to hide her grey eyes. It's like looking at a whole new person. I didn't even recognize her at first.**_

_**She also stopped eating meat. She had this vision of making the world a better place and stopping global warming by being a vegetarian. Love the world, she said. Yeah right, I wouldn't give up meat for all I care just to save this world. The world can find a better way to better itself. She argued with Tucker for being such a meat-eater, and as always, I'm the middleman. **_

_**Dash being the idiot he was, had laughed at Sam's new look. Oh man, was it awesome looking at him getting kicked by girl. I didn't laugh out loud; I did it inside my head. But he saw me there and it was no difference whether I laugh or not because he'll still pick on me either way. I spent fourth period in my locker. Sam helped me out when she realized I wasn't in class. And as usual, Mr. Lancer didn't want to hear my side of the story.  
**_


	5. Chapter 5: The Funeral

**A/N: Sorry, it took me longer that I realized is necessary to finish this chapter. I'm not really sure that the chapter even turns out the way I want it but anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much lovelies for all your reviews! I read them all, I love them all! You all made my day, seriously! By the way, I didn't do much editing on this chapter, so pardon if there were any grammatical errors. Vlad's meeting with Desiree will be told in chapter six, which I hope, will not take this long to develop. Again, thank you thank you thank you for your reviews! I just can't reply to them all, too tired :p  
**

**If you have any idea or critiques concerning concerning the story, please tell me! Comments are so welcomed!**

* * *

**SACRIFICE**

**CHAPTER 5: THE FUNERAL**

Start: 14 September 2012

Done: 13 March 2013

**_15 January 1999_**

**_I lost my lunch money today. I think I misplaced it._**

**_Or maybe, it's just Dash that had taken it from my bag. Jerk._**

**_Everything is still white, the snow still falling everywhere. I'm happy Christmas is over. I don't think I can stand anymore of mom and dad's argument about Santa._**

**_Jazz is just crazing me out. She keeps telling me about what to do and not to do. She said I need to find new friends and not become such a social outcast. It's not my fault that I only have Sam and Tucker. Nobody wants to befriend, as Dash said, the loser Fenton kid that comes from a family of losers. He didn't count Jazz in though. I think he likes Jazz. _**

**_I hate winters. It always brings troubles for me. Winter means Christmas and Christmas means humiliation of tacky clothes and stupid Santa arguments. I don't mind the cold weather though. Jazz's birthday is coming soon. I still don't know what to give her. It's predictable to give books to Jazz. Maybe I should just give her a set of tarot cards. She hates everything that has anything to do with the paranormal. Just to annoy her._**

_**I can smell dad's fudge from here. FYI, I'm in my room. Maybe dad is coming to show me one of his non-functioning inventions again.**_

* * *

Almost everybody in town came to the bleak funeral of the youngest child of the Fentons, those who knew the boy and those who've heard of his tragic death. Amity Park was a small town, everybody knew about the Fentons and their interest in ghosts.

It is of no surprise that their son died because of one too.

The funeral- it was magnificent.

Held in the evening when the sun was just starting to set on the horizon and the birds flying back to their nests. Rows of seats were set; all covered in black satin, the fabric smooth and freed of all creases. Expensive foods were served and flowers were scattered everywhere, given to Vlad and the Fentons to show them the people's condolences concerning the deceased. Many of them even came from Vlad's business associates who didn't even know what kind of relation Vlad had with the dead. The boy's peers and teachers were there at the funeral as well, along with many others who knew him because of his eccentric parents. They all came to grieve together for Danny.

Or maybe, they just came for the free food.

All in all, it looked more like a celebration than a sepulture.

* * *

Somehow, Vlad managed to get rid of all the nosy reporters from interrogating him with their prodding questions. The man simply said with a haughty tilt of his head that-

"It is a private matter and I wish you all to respect it," eyes glaring at the cameras as they came running to the front of his mansion. He had just gotten up when the reporters started banging at the door; demanding answers for their curious minds and a drop of even the slightest information to quench their thirsts for gossips.

He dressed himself in a black suit and tie, foregoing his usual red one. Calling the coffin maker had been done and they had confirmed to him that they've finished the glass coffin he asked. The bottom of the coffin was made of black wood- plain with no carvings- with the top made of glass and can be separated from the bottom completely. He had requested them to make the wooden lid as well- made of the same wood, both in shape and color. In short, Danny's coffin had two lids. One made of wood, and one of glass. The coffin maker of course, didn't comment about anything on this.

Why had he chosen a very simple coffin for such a grand funeral he didn't know. It's just that he had always known Danny as someone that preferred simplicity over opulence.

Vlad stared at his reflection in the mirror, one hand adjusting his tie. His eyes looked empty. Even he noticed so himself. People always said that being left by somebody important to you hurts like nothing in this world. He doesn't know the case about him. Heck, he had always considered the boy as nothing but inferior to him, a pawn to use, and a naive mind to mess up with. Danny had always been diminutive. So why did it…

_hurt?_

So the boy was important after all. An awful shame that he only realized this when said person was already dead.

"Mr. Masters?"

A knock on his door.

"Mr. Masters?"

Twice.

Thrice.

"Yes?"

An old, kind voice answered from behind the closed door. "Pardon me sir, but I only want to remind you that the funeral starts at exactly 4 o'clock. It is already a quarter to four."

He paused in his gesture of adjusting his tie. A slight frown marred his face as he looked at the analog watch on his wrist.

"Thank you Albert, please tell the driver to bring the limo to the front gate."

"Of course, sir."

Vlad looked back into the mirror, checking his appearance for the last time. His hair was tied neatly, his suite creaseless, and he had put his usual silver watch on. The man gazed over momentarily to his desk where he put Danny's diary upon it. The book tells very little about the boy despite it being his journal. Danny rarely wrote in it. It's not even filled full to half of the book.

Something constricts in his chest at the thought that he had never really knew Danny.

Or even bothered in trying to get to know him.

* * *

"Scoot over, I can't get through."

Sam Manson looked up to see the face of Dash Baxter looming over her form. He was for this once, seen wearing a black suit with his blonde hair combed back. She stared at him for a while, contemplating whether Dash is going to be annoying when he sits next to her. She shrugged to herself in the end and scooted to the seat on her left, letting Dash sit. He sat down with an unusual grace for someone as big and brash as him, adjusting his tie a bit and finally clasping his hands and setting his elbows upon his knee.

The funeral wasn't going to start for another half hour but people were already filling the plush, black seats offered to them. The EO organized the seats to be situated at two sides, left and right, with an aisle separating them. Danny's coffin hadn't arrived yet.

She saw from the periphery of her eyes, Paulina walking to the left side of the aisle. The girl was wearing a simple little black dress with spaghetti straps. Her high heels made soft clicking noises on the stone walkway beneath her. The Latina saw Dash sitting next to Sam but didn't comment anything. Dash glanced at her and she only gave a wry smile.

Sam diverted her attention back to the empty altar prepared for the coffin. Dash fidgeted a bit next to her, reaching his hands to the inside of his pocket. He pulled out some mint candies. The blonde boy ripped the wrapper and surprisingly, offered it to Sam.

"You look tense." He offered it again, thrusting the candy to Sam. "Eat, it'll help you relax."

She eyed the candy with no interest, but took it from the boy nonetheless. Dash was still eyeing Sam as she popped the candy into her mouth, letting the hard confection rest on top of her tongue. He ripped another of the wrapper and offered it to Paulina from across the aisle.

Sam started sucking on her candy quietly.

Dash was very quiet next to her. Why did he sit here again? As far as she knows, he hates her and her group of friends. He dislikes both Danny and Tucker too. Especially Danny. So what was he doing here again?

"What are you doing here?"

"Huh?"

She gazed over to Dash and repeated her question. "I said, what are you doing here? You don't like any of us and Tucker will be very uncomfortable if he were to sit anywhere near you." She folded her hands and leaned forward, "why don't you just sit with Paulina or Kwan."

Dash looked away. "I'm sorry."

Sam's attention was still at the altar. "Sorry wouldn't change anything. You should have said it when Danny was still alive. He would never know now." She chewed on her candy and looked away from the empty altar. "You shouldn't say things when you don't mean it. Empty words of apologies are useless."

"I really am sorry, Mans-" he cut off his words and blew out a sigh, "-Sam." Her name slithered out of his tongue in such a low tone, "I never wish for him to die."

"Of course you don't," she scoffed, "so you can still make him your punching bag. He worth no more than that to you. Why do you even care."

Dash was quiet for some moment.

"I thought he was only a weak boy," he finally said, looking up to the sky, "but he died because of saving someone. I don't think that even I would be able to do that."

Sam didn't say anything as tears started rolling down her cheeks.

* * *

Tucker came after that. For this once, he wasn't wearing his usual red beret. He was surprised when he saw Dash sitting next to a silently crying Sam. The blonde didn't say anything or do anything. He just stayed quiet as he looked down to his lap. Tucker went over to the empty seat on Sam's right side and sat there.

"Hey…"

She covered her eyes with one of her hands.

"It's okay Sam. It's okay. I'm here."

Her tears started rolling down her cheeks faster.

Dash looked away, giving Sam her privacy to cry and be consoled by Tucker.

Tucker could only hold his remaining best friend as she cried silently on his shoulder.

* * *

When Vlad arrived, everybody was already seated. The Fentons sat on the very front, Jack in the middle with Maddie on his right and Jazz on his left. All of them wore black. Jazz's hair was done in a high up do with not even a single accessory adorning her body, save for a small pearl earring on her ears.

Everybody was chatting quietly to each other, their voices trailed away when they saw Vlad walking through the aisle to sit next to the Fentons. They started whispering about him then.

"Isn't that…"

"Yes, that's him."

"What's he got to do with the Fentons? I thought they are losers?"

"Don't be stupid, he's friends with the Fentons. I heard he was Danny's guardian too."

"Never heard of that gossip before."

"He likes to keep his privacy."

"Isn't he the one that Danny saved?"

"I don't know, Danny saved someone? Please, as if he could even save anybody."

Vlad clenched his fists. Nobody should ever know about that bit of information. After all, he only said that Danny's cause of death was because of the stab wound on his chest. People just put two and two together, thus resulting in the conclusion that Danny's death had something to do with the billionaire.

"It's on the internet. They said Danny died because of pushing him out of the way."

"Really? I haven't checked the news."

Their whispers started to irk Vlad. He stayed quiet though. Their gossips will only get worse if he were to comment on anything.

Finally, the coffin arrived right on time. The men put down Danny's coffin on the altar. The lid was opened then. It was the wooden lid. Vlad had instructed them to put the glass lid inside the mausoleum, out of anybody's view. Everybody went silent as they strained their heads as far as they could from the seats to take a peek. They were confused though. Shouldn't the coffin at least reek of rotten corpse? It's been days after all, his body should have rot by now. But all they could smell was the jasmine scent the corpse dresser had put on Danny's body when the lid was lifted.

Vlad had to glare to an Asian boy sitting opposite him when he stood up from his seat to take a better look at the coffin. The boy ducked his head and sat back down in haste.

Vlad looked over to Jack who only nodded at him. He stood, and walked over to the opened coffin. Danny's face was forever frozen in that peaceful state. Hi hair was still as messy as ever, the black locks in complete disarray. It seems like not even the coffin dresser can tame his hair. Vlad reached out and brush back the strands from the boy's forehead.

He straightened his back and turned over, facing the people in front of him. The wooden podium was set next to the altar.

He strode over to it.

He stood there in the podium and cleared his throat.

"Ladies and gentlemen."

Everyone's attentions were onto him in seconds.

"We are gathered here to grieve for our lost in the form of one, irreplaceable boy."

Thus, his speech begun.

* * *

He didn't mention anything out of the ordinary in it; same old grieving talk that everybody always give to those related with the dead- praises about how good he was when still alive, how he will always be loved. Some boys at the very back snickered and whispered lowly. He heard.

"We barely know him," they chuckled to each other, smirking infuriatingly.

Vlad wanted to strangle them all to show such ill manner in public. Especially in a funeral like this, with the grieving family just right at the front. More specifically, especially in DANIEL'S funeral.

"-and may he rest in peace."

The boys stopped whispering and pretended to look as if they've been paying attention all along.

Vlad closed his eyes momentarily, savoring the calm moment. It was very silent, with not even the breeze going through the leaves could be heard. His eyes snapped open.

"Daniel died of a noble death." He started suddenly.

"He died saving me."

Gasps. Even Maddie flinched in her seat, hands fisting her skirt slightly. Her eyes bored holes right at Vlad, as if blaming the man for everything that happened. Dash looked away. Sam glared. Tucker dipped his head in despair.

"Please respect him."

The boys were still snickering with each other.

"For the boys at the back to please cease your infernal giggling. Do you not have respect for the dead." Vlad deadpanned coldly.

Everybody's head swiveled back to look at the boys Vlad had pointed at with his words.

The boys- Vlad recognized one of them as the Matt boy who wore letterman jacket with brown hair- looked away and scoffed, but they straightened in their seats.

He narrowed his eyes at them but left it at that.

He stepped down from the podium and took a white rose from the vase next to Danny's coffin. He put the flower on Danny's chest, right over the boy's heart.

Vlad went back to his seat. The Fentons refused to give any speech, Jack felt whatever memories he has about his boy should be kept only for himself. Maddie didn't have the strength to speak, and the same goes to the sister.

They got up and walked over to the vase, each taking a flower in hand. Jack was the first to put the rose. He brushed Danny's hair with his gloveless hand and kissed him on the forehead- like he did so many times when Danny was still a gurgling baby.

Like he did when the boy fell off his bike on his first try.

Like he did when Danny fell asleep after silently crying his eyes out _(why is everybody really mean to me?)_

He was still five at the time. He was upset.

Jack stepped back and let his wife to see her baby boy for the last time.

The mother whispered soothing words to her boy's ear. "Heaven is waiting for you," she breathed deeply, "you will have everything you want there," she kissed his forehead, petting his head lovingly,

"I always love you-

"-I always do.

"You're never second in anything, Danny-

"I'm sorry."

Jazz put her flower next. She didn't say anything; she didn't even touch the corpse. Her face was blank and she kept her expression that way. All throughout the sepulture.

Sam and Tucker followed soon after. Dash got up from his seat and followed the duo, his feet shuffling uncertainly under him. Paulina stood up and her heels clacked noisily as she stepped behind the blonde boy following the duo, whispering quiet prayers under her breath in her mother's tongue.

"Dios lo bendiga."

_God bless him._

She clasped her hands and put her knuckles to her lips.

"Todos sus pecados perdonados y pueden descansar en paz."

_All his sins __forgiven __and allowed to rest __in peace__._

Mr. Lancer's eyes followed the Latina, listening to the girl's prayer as he silently prayed as well. Danny was so very young. It was his fault the boy got bullied every day. He didn't stop them from doing so to Danny.

He hadn't cared.

Soon Valerie followed with Kwan behind her and Star trailing indifferently while fiddling with the brooch on her dress. They all followed Dash as the blonde walked behind Sam and Tucker.

* * *

In the end, there were at least thirty roses in the coffin. They closed the lid after the last person was done putting his rose. Their eyes followed the coffin as it was being put inside the mausoleum.

"Why didn't they just bury him?"

"Why? Because it's more normal that way?"

"Well, mostly because it's very rare nowadays for people to put corpses inside a mausoleum. Don't they rot inside?"

Valerie crossed her arms as she gazed over to Star.

"I don't know, okay? Besides, I think it's really kind of Vlad to give Danny this funeral," she looked down to her heels, "I still can't believe he's gone."

Star circled her arm around her friend's shoulder and put her pretty blonde head to it. "I know Val, I know."

* * *

Vlad was one of the last to leave the funeral. He, after all, was the one who took care of it. Not the Fentons. Doctor Lam stood next to him, eyes gazing interestedly at the grand mausoleum. The young man was wearing a black tuxedo not unlike Vlad himself with his glasses still sitting nicely on his nose.

"This place is to be locked whenever left," He started, eyes not even bothering to look at the doctor listening intently by his side, "I expect your studying of his body to end in over two months. The permission to this mausoleum will expire after the two months is over and you will have to ask again if you still want to continue the research."

The doctor nodded.

"The corpse is, however, never to be moved around. You are only allowed to observe. Do not even try to attempt removing the corpse in any way whatsoever because I have put security cameras in several places inside the place."

He produced a key from the inside of his pants' pocket and handed it to the doctor.

* * *

The sounds of typing and pen scratching papers.

A crow cawed from the distance as Vlad worked through the night. He couldn't sleep, so he might as well spend his time working rather than staring blankly at the wall.

Three days had passed since the funeral.

Not even once had he visited the mausoleum again.

He knew from the reports that Doctor Lam and his team gave him that the corpse stayed reserved. Frozen corpse- the doctors had called Danny. The audacity of them. He hated it when they give Danny terms like that, as if the boy was some fascinating object.

"Plasmius?"

Vlad looked up from his work. For this once, his hair wasn't tied in its usual ponytail; it was let loose pooling around his shoulders. He brushed some of the strands out of his eyes and looked up to see Skulker.

"Yes?"

The robot gave him a small frown and said in a leveled voice, "Desiree is in your lab."

* * *

_Daniel James Fenton_

_3 April 1990 – 29 July 2005_

_Because I could not stop for Death__  
__He kindly stopped for me__  
__The carriage held but just ourselves__  
__And Immortality_

-Emily Dickinson

_Death hides - but it cannot divide_

* * *

_**I HATE HATE HATE EVERYTHING. EVERYONE. I HATE MOM. I HATE DAD. I HATE JAZZ. I HATE DASH. I HATE MR. BRENT. I HATE EVERYTHING. I WANT TO DIE. I WANT TO JUST DIE. I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE. I NEVER ASKED TO BE HERE. I HATE EVERYTHING. I HATE I HATE I HATE I HATE I HATE I HATE**_

_**8 April 1999**_

_**My fish died today. Mom didn't make cookies because she was too busy. She forgot to make dinner too. I ate some cereal though. I can already reach the cupboard now with a stool. But I'm still the shortest in class. Jazz locked her door so I can't go in. She's still mad that I accidentally ripped Bearbert Einstein's ear. It's not my fault that she left her stupid bear on the floor and made me tripped on it. I'm bored. I got an ecto gun for my birthday. And a book about Anne Green something from Jazz. Tucker gave me a hat. Sam gave me Spyro 2 Ripto's Rage. I like Sam's present best. I've been asking mom to buy me the game but she always said later. **_


End file.
